OREANDA-NEWS. September 16, 2009. Belarus has clearly determined international priorities taking into account national interests and will not change them in order to gain brief and disputable advantages. The statement was made by President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko at the V Belarusian-Lithuanian international economic forum in Vilnius on 16 September.

The President remarked, they try to make Belarus make some choice between Europe and Russia, claiming that the two vectors are incompatible. “I think this approach is wrong,” said Alexander Lukashenko. “To be the linking bridge between the East and the West is our cornerstone view”. The Belarusian head of state is convinced that Belarus has geographical, cultural, economic and even political conditions to attain the goal.

Alexander Lukashenko underlined that Belarus is a European state. It gradually advances and will reach the goal of making Belarusian economic and social standards equal to the world’s best ones.

“But Belarus is also a country with geographically, historically, culturally and economically necessitated tight relations with the eastern neighbor — Russia. Why do we have to decline it all? Who will be better off without it?” wondered the President.

Speaking about the Belarusian-Lithuanian relations, Alexander Lukashenko said he was confident that certain differences in the geopolitical orientation of Belarus and Lithuania should not disunite. They should be complementing parts in building productive cooperation along the axis West-East. The President is convinced that the security and stability of the entire region depends on it to a large degree.

Alexander Lukashenko was pleased with the fact that this approach of Belarus has found better understanding in Europe lately. “Changes for the better are obvious in relations between Belarus and the European Union,” stated the Belarusian head of state. He also added that the changes had become possible thanking a lot to Lithuania’s active stance.