BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

22/09/2007

Belarus-Georgia relations not "friendship against Russia" - Lukashenko

MINSK, September 22 (Itar-Tass) -- Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko sad the development of relations between his country and Georgia was not "friendship against Russia".

Only "people with a warped imagination" could "view this an attempt by Minsk and Tbilisi to build some line against Russia", Lukashenko said in an interview with the press on Saturday.

"Russian diplomats meet with their Georgian colleagues very often, and we do not view that as friendship against Belarus," he said.

"We are a sovereign independent state and have every right to build our foreign policy as we see fit. But we have never built it against someone, especially Russia," the president said.

Lukashenko intends to restore relations with Georgia and to bring them to a higher level. "We are determined to restore and expand our relations, and bring them to a higher level compared with Soviet times," he said while meeting with Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili earlier this week.

Lukashenko said Belarus was "firmly inclined to good relations with Georgian comrades" and thanked the Georgian guest for his initiative to visit Minsk.

"We had various stages of relations, and in Soviet times Georgians were close friends to us, but all sorts of things happened after the break-up of the Soviet Union," the president said.

He expressed satisfaction with the fact that an opportunity presented itself "to draw the line under the period of chaos and muddle and to determine our bilateral relations."

"I have formed a very good relationship with your president," Lukashenko said. He remarked that the visit of the Georgian interior minister must have certainly been coordinated with the Georgian president.

The opening of the Georgian embassy in Minsk and the upcoming opening of the Belarusian embassy in Georgia shortly are the signs that the two countries have determined their line in bilateral relations, Lukashenko said

Merabishvili said he hoped for a higher level of relations with Belarus.

"We hope that in two or three years our relations will be more intensive and they will yield concrete results," he said.

The Georgian minister said he had been instructed by President Mikhail Saakashvili to promote cooperation with Belarusian colleagues.

Merabishvili made a positive assessment of cooperation with Belarus in certain areas. In his words, 90 percent of agricultural equipment is bought in Belarus. "Georgian farmers are pleased with the quality and service of Belarusian tractors," he said.

The minister also said air service between the two countries was developing at the proper level.

Lukashenko stressed that trade turnover between the countries was still quite low. "It's just funny. Our potential is much higher. Trade turnover should reach 100 million U.S. dollars shortly," the Belarusian president said.

Lukashenko said it was necessary to restore relations. "It's improper to look at each other through a gap in the fence," he added.

Source:

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=11896104&PageNum=0

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