Lukashenko: Belarusian farmers should be grateful for sanctions
VETKA DISTRICT, 28 April (BelTA) – We should not blame sanctions but make use of new opportunities they have opened to us, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said at a meeting with Gomel Oblast officials on 28 April, BelTA has learned.
The president welcomed the fact that neither the Gomel Oblast governor, nor the president’s aide for the region spoke about the sanctions at the meeting. “At the meeting in Grodno, they started talking about sanctions. You should be glad that these sanctions were imposed. Especially the farmers. Our country gets a lot from the agricultural sector. Take our agricultural products, sell them,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “Yes, Russia produces a lot of milk. We need to compete. It is not all that simple. Well, we should do something ourselves. You have contact with Smolensk Oblast, Pskov Oblast, Bryansk Oblast. And also Belgorod, Kursk. These are our people. Work through them, try to sell to them. No one is interfering now. It is necessary to negotiate.”
“We need to work and forget about sanctions! Yes, with sanctions it is not easy, it is difficult. Well, it is not easy for Belaruskali, for oil refineries. Is this your area of activity? No. There are specialists in the government to deal with these issues,” the Belarusian leader said.
There are also positive changes for these goods which are under sanctions. “We are resuming the sales of potash fertilizers. Yes, the logistics part is a little bit more expensive. But we are selling. Oil products are in great demand today. And we used to be afraid of having nowhere to sell them. What can’t we sell? Tractors? The Russian market is free. Yes, the Chinese are a tough competition there. But we are still competitive. We have found contacts with [Russian agricultural equipment company] Rostselmash. We need to develop these contacts and work through Rostselmash,” the president said.
