OREANDA-NEWS. March 11, 2008. In the future Great Britain may become the largest investor in Belarus’ economy, said President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko on 10 March at a meting with a group of British businessmen headed by Cecil Parkinson, a member of the House of Lords of the Parliament of Great Britain.

“I would like to assure you that everything we shall agree with you upon, will be rigorously implemented. All the agreements will be fulfilled within the shortest possible period,” the President stressed. “You will receive full support for your work on the Belarusian market,” he added.

Alexander Lukashenko reminded the guests that in 2007, Great Britain invested around $800 million in the Belarusian economy. Last year’s trade between the two countries reached $2 billion. “This is not much, but not little either,” the Head of State noted.

“The considerable volume of Belarusian exports to your country is a good indicator showing that Belarus has great prospects of advancing into the market of Great Britain,” Alexander Lukashenko said. Belarus and Great Britain have no economic problems at all, he added.

“As for politics, I am confident that the stable advancement of our economic dialogue will be followed by the establishing of a good political dialogue,” the President stressed.

The future of relations between Belarus and the EU will depend on how independent the foreign policy of the European Union will be from the USA. “Unfortunately, the future of relations between Belarus and the European Union does not depend solely on Europe and Belarus,” the head of state said.

“I don’t think Britain has any political claims to Belarus. We, definitely, don’t have any towards the United Kingdom,” the Head of State said. “As for the relations with the EU, I believe the European Union has the right understanding of the role that Belarus plays in Europe,” Alexander Lukashenko added.

Belarus is a very important link for the European Union in terms of both economy and politics. He reminded the guests that around 20 per cent of gas and 40 per cent of oil delivered by Russia to Europe go through Belarus. “Thus Belarus is a very important transport thoroughfare,” the President said. “Belarus has never failed Europe. And we would like to be treated in the same way,” he said.

Lord Parkinson, for his part, said that, while in Belarus, he saw that foreign investors could feel quite secure and confident in Belarus and be sure that Belarus’ government would meet all the guarantees it had given them.

The outlook for our cooperation is quite bright, Lord Parkinson said. Strong economic ties are becoming the groundwork for warm friendly relations between the countries, he added. The bigger our trade grows, the better our relations get and the stronger our mutual understanding and mutual trust become, he said.