Belarus is valued, we have proven that we are respectable partners

On November 20th, the President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, reviewed personnel issues

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The Head of State appointed:
Aleksandr Chervyakov — Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to the People’s Republic of China;
Igor Marshalov — Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to the Republic of Zimbabwe;
Igor Bely — Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to the Republic of South Africa with concurrent accreditation to the Republic of Botswana, the Republic of Mozambique and the Republic of Namibia;
Sergei Malinovsky — Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to the Republic of Serbia with concurrent accreditation to the Republic of North Macedonia;
Roman Romanovsky — Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to the Republic of Indonesia with concurrent accreditation to Malaysia, the Republic of Singapore and the Republic of the Philippines.
The President also agreed to the appointment of Aleksandr Matsukov as Consul General of the Republic of Belarus in Mumbai, India.

All personnel decisions of this day were diplomatic appointments, Aleksandr Lukashenko invited the new ambassadors to China and Zimbabwe for a separate conversation. 
“I have specifically invited you for a separate meeting in order to talk about your appointments. I want to emphasise that these two countries are extremely important,” the Belarusian leader said addressing Aleksandr Chervyakov and Igor Marshalov.
According to the Head of State, Belarus and China have already established co-operation across key areas, contacts have been made, therefore the new ambassador will not have to work from scratch.
“I won’t say that in Zimbabwe we are building our relations from scratch. I visited the country last year. Naturally, the existing contacts are not only my achievement. In fact, despite the work done before and after the visit, there is still a lot to do. However, we already helped [Zimbabwe] harvest enough grain to feed its people. But there is still a lot of work ahead,” the Belarusian leader noted. “We need to establish diplomatic presence, strengthen our foothold in this country. After all, they are looking forward to seeing us there. They appreciate us, we have proven that we are reliable people. 
In addition, they want us to bring our technologies in mechanical engineering and other industries — construction, healthcare, education (personnel training is very important), and agriculture — to Zimbabwe. The neighbours of Zimbabwe especially Mozambique, expressed their intention to co-operate with us when the learned about our plans in Africa,” the Head of State added.
Speaking about China, Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasised that this country, along with Russia, is among Belarus’ key partners, “They help us both technologically and financially. Therefore, there will be a lot of work.”
Speaking about co-operation with Mozambique, Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that it should develop in sync with co-operation with the neighbouring Zimbabwe where Belarus has already established its presence. Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa discussed this topic with his counterpart from Mozambique. 
“Figuratively speaking, while establishing presence in Mozambique, we need to piggyback on our co-operation with Zimbabwe. They are very interested in us. Our technologies, especially in the agricultural industry, can stand them in good stead,” the Head of State explained.
There are quite a lot of problems in Africa’s southern region, and Belarus can help address them, as was the case with Zimbabwe.  
“Zimbabwe is glad to have been able to finally feed its people. They couldn’t harvest grain crops. Now they are harvesting them two or three times a year. They have met their people’s needs for this food staple. Why can’t we help Mozambique? We can. Therefore, we need to figure out the situation there and focus on the country that needs our help the most. Naturally, this is not charity,” the Belarusian leader said.
As for co-operation with Serbia and the work of the Belarusian diplomatic mission in this country, as the President noted, the situation must be seriously studied.
“We need to wrap our heads around the policy that Serbia is pursuing and plans to pursue in relation to Belarus. 
If they want [to co-operate with Belarus], we should see the results of this co-operation in the trade and economic dimension. If they want to support European and American sanctions against Belarus, this is their business. They want to have the cake and eat it too, figuratively speaking. Yet, they should make up their mind. If they have forgotten our kindness towards them, they can go ahead and support the sanctions,” Aleksandr Lukashenko set the task.
Aleksandr Lukashenko told the diplomats to strengthen contacts with those countries that also strive for constructive co-operation, “If the West and America do not want to co-operate with us, it is fine, and we will retain our diplomatic presence where it is needed. In addition, we should transfer most of diplomats to those areas where we see progress. We have movement in many countries, we co-operate with many countries. We need to strengthen them,” the Head of State specified.
The President described co-operation with the countries of Southeast Asia as follows,
“Apart from some occasional trade and economic contacts, we have hardly got our foot in the door. We need to gain a foothold there. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore are promising destinations, and we should come up with one and a half, two or three projects in each of them. This is your task.”
Regarding India, Aleksandr Lukashenko noted, “We should establish closer co-operation with India, primarily in economy and trade. This is a huge global power. We should identify our interests there.”

Based on materials of sb.by and belta.by