STEPAN SUKHORENKO: FOR 20 YEARS OF DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS ESTABLISHMENT OUR PARTNERSHIP HAS BECOME MORE EFFECTIVE THAN DURING THE USSR
Interview of Ambassador of Belarus to Armenia, Stepan Sukhorenko, with
ArmInfo news agency
by Marianna Lazarian
Monday, June 17, 23:12
Mr Ambassador, Armenia and Belarus celebrate an anniversary – 20
years of establishment of diplomatic relations. Did our countries
gain much for these 20 years like the independent states?
The positions of Armenia and Belarus on the key international issues
coincide. Earlier we used to work through Moscow. The headquarters of
foreign policy was in Moscow. But today we have been directly working
in all the international platforms like independent entities. But
the most important is that we contact and support each other in many
issues. Armenia and Belarus are two small countries, and of course
they cannot act the way that Russia and China do. For this reason,
big states or international structures have got absolutely different
pretensions to them. As for us, we are forced to stand shoulder to
shoulder and support each other. We have been effectively cooperating
in the humanitarian sphere and in the sphere of culture as well, and
Days of Belarusian Culture are traditionally held in Armenia, and of
the Armenian culture – in Belarus. Today the two countries know about
each other much more than earlier, as today they directly communicate
without intermediaries. In the sphere of education both countries have
agreements almost with all the profile universities, and they exchange
students and share their experience. We have been discussing, which
is better the Bologna process or an old Soviet school. Armenia is a
participant of the Bologna process, but we just coming closer to it.
However, we still have the basis – the Soviet school plus the best
practice adapted to today’s conditions. Today we do not say that the
Bologna process is the best and what we had is bad. Belarus does not
hurry and is coming closer to this problem very much carefully to
find an optimal option. The inter-regional cooperation is one of the
most important sides of cooperation. Today the regions of Armenia and
Belarus have established friendship and discuss trade and economic
as well as humanitarian problems. The dialogue often becomes so much
deep and trustful that even the Embassy is not aware of it. For this
reason, I should say once again that for the last 20 years we moved
forward more than in the Soviet Union. And the most important is that
there is no obstacle in our cooperation, though there are wrinkles,
as every country has its own national interests, but I cannot remember
a case of any serious disagreements or barriers between our countries.
If there are disagreements, we try to settle them only stemming from
the interests of both states.
You probably mean extension of cooperation within such organizations
like the future Eurasian Union or the Customs Union. Are the Armenian
and Belarusian parties cooperating on the matter?
One should get used to one another when choosing any unions. For
instance, Belarus is a member of the Customs Union and Single Economic
Area. By 2015 members of the organization should join the Eurasian
Union. A question arises: what are more – pluses or minuses? To us,
as a state with an open economy, the Customs Union as well as Single
Economic Area are very much important, as our key market is developing
sin two directions – Russia and Europe. And today one cannot say that
Belarus is making choice only between Russia and Europe.
Belarus is already able to combine, but Armenia always asks: either
or. This is a pure political speculation.
The statements by European functionaries about the necessity of
making choice between the European Union and Eurasian Union are
incorrect. Some high rank European functionaries say these two unions
do not hinder each other, but others do not think so. Let’s discuss
the issue logically. Armenia is a member of the WTO, at present it is
preparing to signing of the Association Agreement with the EU and the
Agreement with Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area. Russia is also
a member of the WTO, Kazakhstan is going to join the WTO. The point
is that everything is being formed at single principles, on which the
WTO has been functioning. As for the European Union, here as well,
everything is being formed on principles fixed and functioning in
the European Union. The activity of the EU is currently analyzed and
the minuses of this structure will be taken into consideration when
forming the Eurasian Union. For this reason the statements by European
functionaries about the necessity of making choice between the European
Union and Eurasian Union are incorrect. I think, those who make such
statements, watch Armenia like their patrimony. One should be more
correct, and if you cooperate, remember that you cooperate with an
equal partner, and it does not matter if he is big or small.
Does Belarus watch any projects that will be financed through the so
called state and private programme financing?
One of the most important goals in cooperation between Armenia and
Belarus is to increase the commodity turnover. This issue was one of
the key issues during the negotiations between President of Belarus
Aleksandr Lukashenko and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan. Six
agreements on cooperation in various fields were signed during the
visit of the Byelorussian President to Armenia. In particular, the
agreements cover the spheres of nuclear security, agriculture, sport,
economy, etc. As our presidents said, the most important thing for
both states is that the commodity turnover between Armenia and Belarus
is insufficient and does not meet the capacities. On the one hand,
46 mln USD seems to be a big amount, but on the other hand, it is
only 1% of the total foreign commodity of Armenia. The two countries’
presidents have set a goal at least to double this amount within the
next 1.5-2 years. The other issues concern the both states’ further
cooperation within international organizations, such as the CSTO,
the CIS, etc. The issue of formation of the Eurasian Union also plays
an important part in the bilateral relations.
Several years ago president of Belarus offered many foreign
businessmen, including the Armenian ones, to invest in the economy
of Belarus. How much Belarus is open today for big and medium-sized
investments?
This topic is still relevant today. Moreover, our legislation is
improving and becoming more liberal, and one of the key goals is
to attract foreign investments. One of such investment projects is
the Byelorussian-Chinese hi-tech park, which is being formed near
the Minsk International Airport. A very large area is provided
for the project. Thousands of specialists are supposed to work in
the park. It is a multi-discipline park, and not only Chinese or
Byelorussian economic entities will be launched there. We believe
that this will be a very promising project. Given that the country
is at the junction of main tracks, nowadays we experience creation
of many transshipment logistics centers. In addition, accommodation
facilities are very actively being built, because Belarus will
host the World Hockey Championship 2014. We welcome investments
in the production industry and sphere of services, but we are not
interested in short-term speculative transactions, our country does
not need that. There are already 4 Armenian restaurants in Minsk,
and the Byelorussians attend them with pleasure.
Mr. Ambassador, thank you for an interesting interview