Lukashenka to Germans: “We won’t agree to privatization for nothing”
- 4.11.2009, 17:00
“We won’t cave in and crawl to the European Union,” stated the Belarusian dictator at the meeting with German business representatives.
“Those who think so are greatly mistaken. One shouldn’t think that Belarus would agree to privatization of its property for nothing,” Lukashenka said at the meeting with a delegation of business circles of Germany, Interfax informs about the press-release sent by the press-service of the Belarusian ruler.
“Come to us and work like you work in German land. And then everything would be alright. You should see Belarusians as good friends. The Belarusian land should become for you as close as the German one,” Lukashenka noted.
The Belarusian ruler has also said that in his dialogue with Brussels “Minsk does not proceed from having no other way to go, and we will crawl to the European Union”. “It is absolutely wrong. We are guided by pragmatic positions. Today we have no less trade with the European Union as with Russia. And any economic process should be facilitated by the political and diplomatic process,” Lukashenka said.
The ruler has also noted that Belarus would be thankful to the German side for consultations and assistance in the issues related to joining the WTO. “However, before integrating into this organisation, Belarus would like to solve questions of liberalization of customs dues for Belarusian goods,” he stated.
In his turn, Klaus Mangold, Chairman of the Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations, stated that there couldn’t be “unnecessary topics” in business cooperation of Belarus and Germany. “As never before, Germany is interested in development of good relations with Belarus. Today the matter concerns transforming this fundamental interest in mutually beneficial projects,” Mr. Mangold said.
In particular, as said by him, both Belarus and Germany are interested in decrease of oil and natural gas consumption.
“I think that in case of successful cooperation in the sphere of alternative energetic, we would be able to reach economizing of energy expenses by 30-40%,” the chairman of the Committee stated.
In the end of the meeting the sides agreed that in the near future concrete projects are to be elaborated, and Lukashenka is to be informed about their results in the end of the first quarter of 2010, the press-service informed.