Lukashenka met Medvedev in fear of Russian rouble falling (Video)
- 27.10.2008, 11:42
On October 25, Dmitry Medvedev and Alyaksandr Lukashenka had a meeting at Meiendorf Castle outside Moscow. It was found out at the meeting that almost half of Belarusian gold and foreign exchange reserves was kept in roubles.
It should be reminded that Russian currency has faced serious problems due to the fall in oil prices, dollar growth and collapse at Russian share market.
As the press service of the Russian president has informed, Medvedev and Lukashenka “discussed prospects of developing of trade, economic and social ties, investments projects, and a range of issues within the framework of preparation for the meeting of the Supreme State Council on the results of 2008.” The heads of states discussed a joint position on measures to reduce its negative influence of thee global financial crisis.
At the meeting with Medvedev, Lukashenka noted that position of the Russian side on the consequences of the global financial crisis was very important for Belarus.
“To my mind, positive signals are very important in our relations. We are naturally interested in the events in the world, caused by the financial crisis. We also need to discuss a range of issues in economic and financial sectors of Belarus and Russia. It is important for us to know what is going on in Russia, because our economy and financial systems are pegged to Russia,” Alyaksandr Lukashenka said.
He emphasised that almost half of Belarusian gold and foreign exchange reserves was kept in roubles. “We consciously moved away from dollars and began using rouble when we had been exerted pressure on. Your piece of advice on the direction we should move in, is important for us,” Lukashenka added.
Alyaksandr Lukashenka noted that a number of current issues were to be discussed at the talks. “We must discuss them. Our prime ministers have already considered them, but some points were successful, others were not,” the head of state said.
He reminded that in June in Brest, the leaders of the countries agreed on conducting talks before a session of the Supreme Council to “outline the direction of development”.
Dmitry Medvedev said he was ready to share his views with Alyaksandr Lukashenka on acute problems of the Belarusian-Russian and union ties. “We will also confer on a range of important issues within the framework of preparation for the meeting of the Supreme State Council as well as stronger trade and economic relations and investment projects,” the Russian President stressed. He added that he would also like to discuss “a situation on financial markets”.
Dmitry Medvedev reminded that a summit of twenty countries was scheduled for November 15in the United States, where further international financial relations will be discussed. “I would like to discuss a joint position on this issue with our closest parterres, for example Belarus. In my view, it is very important for our bilateral relations,” he added.
The heads of states also discussed a Russian initiative on creation of a new Agreement on European Security. As a source from the Belarusian delegation said, Minsk supported it and thought that the Collective Security Treaty Organization should take active part in this project executing.
Lukashenka and Medvedev also touched upon military cooperation. They discussed issues on creation of the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Belarus and Russia have harmonized around 96 percent of customs tariffs, which is in fact the starting point for the creation of the Customs Union in the troika format. We expect our partners of Kazakhstan to be more active here,” the source said.
The meeting lasted for more than three hours.