Lukashenko to CICA members: new world order depends on our political will and responsibility
The potential of the Eurasian region is enormous while the focus of global politics and economics is shifting to Asia – as stated by Aleksandr Lukashenko at the sixth summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), which is taking place in Astana
In particular, speaking about the potential of the Eurasian region, the President of Belarus underlined, “This is a colossal resource base, production capacities and an unrivalled consumer market. It is clear that the role of the continent will increase. The Asian countries alone produce a third of the world’s GDP, and their population exceeds 4 billion people.”
“Our country views interaction with Asian states as one of the priorities of its foreign policy,” the Belarusian leader said. He noted that, being in the centre of Europe, we maintain close trade-economic interaction with the Central Asian partners within the Eurasian Economic Union, “Our state is participating in the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative. We are the western outpost of the CSTO, but at the same time we are actively in contact with all our allies in the region of responsibility of this organisation. Our initiatives – from a broad international dialogue on confidence-building measures to the Digital Neighbourhood Belt – are focused on creating an indivisible, comprehensive security architecture within which states and peoples coexist peacefully.”
According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, the expansion of co-operation between the CSTO, the SCO and the CICA can lay a powerful foundation for both successful development of the Eurasian space and the security of the states participating in these associations, “We can become a good example of interaction for the European region, where the system of checks and balances – established in the 1990s – is bursting at the seams and falling apart. I am convinced that, taking into account the shift in the focus of global politics and economics towards Asia, the dynamic development of transcontinental trade-economic ties, infrastructure and logistics projects, further expansion of dialogue and collaboration between the states of the meeting are more important than ever.”
Addressing the summit participants, the Head of State stressed, “What will be the structure of the new world order, where the new poles of world politics will take shape, and what will be the future balance of power largely depends on our collective will and political responsibility. Today, as never before, they are vital because we are talking about the future of our children and grandchildren.”
Aleksandr Lukashenko is convinced that CICA will play a significant role in responsible decision-making processes that will help build a peaceful and predictable future, “Belarus is ready for such serious work both politically and economically. Summing up, we can say: the time has come for Asia. It is very important not to miss this time!”
