Posted: 05.02.2025 13:11:00

Expert on Belarus’ future: resting on our laurels is not the way to go

The 2025 election campaign has completed a whole cycle of major changes in Belarus. In his talk with Alfa Radio, a deputy of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly, Director General of the National Library of Belarus Vadim Gigin shared his views on what awaits our country in future.

“Next, our country will face the five-year plan of quality and the Year of Improvement, and we should all tune into it. Now the final boards of ministries and departments are being held, where they review what has been done during this time,” the expert said.” Resting on our laurels is not the way to go. We need to see where we have unused resources, reserves, where we can add something, look for new ideas, rely on the freedom of initiative. Belarus is a country of free people. We have principles, values, ideals, which, as the President said, give equal and open opportunities. These are freedom, creativity, initiatives. If we rely on this, we will be able to set up a new generation of our citizens for the development of our system.”

The parliamentarian noted that our country has set ambitious goals, primarily in the economy, “One of the main targets is a 4 percent growth [of GDP]. This is good, but we need to reach 5-6 percent and further through exports. The world is opening up for us. The growth of trade turnover with China and Africa shows that we can achieve the same goals in South Asia and Latin America as well. I would also like to note that co-operation within the Union State can help us further. We have already reached almost peak indicators with Russia. But we need to look at this as a basis for further movement, so that our co-operative ties with Russia allow us to develop new markets.”

Mr. Gigin also touched upon security issues, “It is clear that the Ukrainian issue is now beginning to be resolved. Moreover, the changes are taking place in the American administration. There is no need to be seduced by Trump or any European leaders, the point is that radical internal political changes are taking place there. Just sitting back and watching is foolish. Diplomacy is about using even the slightest changes in your opponents’ country for yourself, e.g., a new ‘right-wing wave’ is about to rise in Europe. For us, these events open up a very large field of opportunities.”