MINSK, November 28. /TASS/: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko plans to meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in the near future, as he himself said on Monday.
"I will meet with the Russian president soon. We will discuss some issues. If we manage to remove some minor problems, we will be able to make significant progress in terms of import substitution efforts. This is the main thing for us at the moment, and this year has made it clear that we can do it," Lukashenko stated at a meeting with Governor of Russia’s Primorsky Region Oleg Kozhemyako, according to the BelTA news agency.
Lukashenko pointed out that the two countries needed "a bit of time" to achieve their goals. According to him, the current economic problems can be vanquished. "We are working to overcome them. Unfortunately, there are some bureaucratic [aspects]. We will talk about that," the Belarusian president noted. He emphasized that it concerned cooperation both with the Primorsky Region and with Russia in general.
Trade and economic cooperation between Belarus and Russia’s Primorsky Region has been steadily growing in recent years. Bilateral trade rose from $17.3 mln to $32.7 mln in 2021 and rocketed nearly another 80% higher in the first nine months of 2022 than the same period last year, reaching about $40 mln.
