Building big plans for the future together — an exclusive interview with President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko

Ahead of the SCO summit in Astana, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko discussed with the Kazinform News Agency correspondent the potential of the SCO, the opportunities that membership in the Organization will provide to the Republic of Belarus, global and food security, and cooperation with Kazakhstan. It should be noted that the Republic of Belarus has been participating in the SCO since 2010. Initially, the country was a dialogue partner, and later it gained observer status. Joining the Organization as a full member is expected at the SCO summit in Astana.

Recently, SCO Secretary - General Zhang Ming announced that a decision on Belarus’s accession to the SCO will be made at the upcoming summit in Astana. What opportunities and prospects will full membership in the Organization bring to your country?

I have spoken about the enormous potential of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization since its inception. We immediately became interested in its initiatives and started participating in its projects when it did not yet have such weight. Initially as a partner country, and since 2015 as observers. Therefore, we have been gradually moving towards full membership. Many Belarusian proposals voiced on the Organization’s platform over the years have already received support.

I am convinced that today the SCO member states are the locomotives of global economic growth and centers of attraction for investments and innovative production. For Belarus, the SCO is not just an international organization; it is a strategic prospect, primarily in trade and economic and investment interaction, development of transport and logistics, information and communication, and other infrastructure.

In our new capacity, we will strive to align our initiatives as much as possible with the existing achievements. Some of these initiatives will be presented at the SCO meeting in the capital of Kazakhstan. Belarus is very interested in cooperation with the countries of the growing “SCO family” in the field of security, combating organized crime, drug trafficking, and human trafficking. We fully share the priorities outlined in the Organization’s main document, the SCO Charter, as well as in the Samarkand and New Delhi declarations of the Council of Heads of State.

Currently, a project to create a SCO Development Fund is being worked on, where the idea of creating a free trade and economic zone within the Organization is being promoted. Even more important is that the Organization is not solely associated with security and economic issues. It also provides a unique opportunity for cultural enrichment, bringing our peoples closer together, direct communication between youth organizations, and activating interactions in sports, tourism, science, and education. It is based on this understanding that Belarus included the SCO National Cultures Day in the program of the annual International Festival “Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk,” which will take place from July 9 to 15.

We also see a good prospect in promoting the idea of “integration of integrations” for which we intend to use our experience in multilateral diplomacy and peacekeeping activities. But most importantly, we are jointly demonstrating to the world that there are alternative international platforms, other centers of power, where the voice and interests of all states, without exception, are heard and respected. Belarus is grateful for the support, high assessment, and recognition by the member states of our contribution to the Organization’s activities. We understand the full responsibility and are determined to work actively and productively in our new status.

The Republic of Belarus actively participates in all major dimensions of SCO activities. How important are security issues to you?

I am deeply convinced that true and indivisible global security in the 21st century must be built through broad dialogue, without discrimination, and on terms acceptable to all. You cannot demand security for yourself while ignoring the security of others.

The SCO, by its nature, is an organization for creation and is not directed against anyone. This is what is needed in the world today and fully corresponds to the spirit of our policy. The Minsk platform has repeatedly served as a place for negotiations on peaceful resolution issues. We consistently invite all countries and international organizations to dialogue. Last year, Belarus proposed the initiative of developing the Eurasian Charter of Diversity and Multipolarity in the 21st century, which is designed to formulate the parameters and principles of the functioning of the security architecture in the Eurasian space. We see the need for more active participation of the “SCO family” in solving global food security issues, largely caused by unilateral coercive measures (sanctions).

One of the already evident consequences of illegal sanctions is the serious exacerbation of the global hunger problem. Let me give just one example. Restrictions on the transit of Belarusian potash fertilizers — which make up about 20 percent of global production — have triggered a significant increase in their prices. As a result, many countries were forced to abandon their use, dramatically worsening the quality and reducing the volume of harvests. According to the UN, in 2023, one in five people in 59 countries faced acute food shortages, more than 280 million people worldwide are starving, and over 36 million children under the age of 5 in 32 countries are severely malnourished. The total percentage of the hungry population has doubled from 10 to 20 percent in 7 years.

Therefore, Belarus, together with the SCO countries, is ready to consistently implement anti-sanctions approaches laid out in the Samarkand Declaration and the decisions of the upcoming SCO summit.

In the context of cooperation between the EAEU and the SCO, there are great opportunities for closer and more effective interaction in forming a common transport space and strengthening transit potential. How does the Republic of Belarus see its participation in integrating the EAEU’s experience in these areas within the SCO framework?

Belarus, with its export-oriented economy, is particularly interested in aligning the transport and logistics potentials of the EAEU and the SCO.

Creating a sustainable transport and logistics framework on the Eurasian continent, with routes that provide the necessary throughput capacity, is one of the key integration tasks for both the EAEU and the SCO. Essentially, without competitive logistics, there can be no effective system of trade relations in the region. The scale of this task is clearly illustrated by specific figures: the territory of the SCO member states covers more than 35 million square kilometers, with a total population of about 3.5 billion people (nearly half of the world’s population) and a combined GDP of $25.5 trillion. Looking at the EAEU, the free movement of goods must be ensured within the framework of trade turnover worth hundreds of billions of dollars. In 2023 alone, this figure was almost $800 billion. The SCO accounts for about 40 percent of the export of EAEU member states. It is evident that the dynamics of mutual penetration of goods produced in the EAEU and SCO countries will steadily grow.

Promising directions for our joint work include the synchronization of the development of international transport corridors such as “North-South”, “East-West” and their alignment with the Chinese initiative “One Belt, One Road.” We have previously put forward this initiative, and much has already been done for its implementation. For example, at the first SCO Transport Forum in Tashkent in 2023, memorandums were signed to create two new international transport corridors: “Belarus-Russia-Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan” and “Russia-Caspian Sea-Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Kyrgyzstan.”

Changes in international trade and the reorientation of EAEU state economies towards growing markets in Asia, the Middle and Near East have led to drastic changes in the transport sector and a complete transformation of logistics chains.

When Lithuania and Poland unilaterally and illegally blocked Belarus’s access to Baltic ports in 2020, we quickly restructured our logistics to Russian ports, began developing transport connections, including modernizing infrastructure, with our EAEU partners and China. As the saying goes, “every cloud has a silver lining.” Today, we are increasing transportation volumes, while the Lithuanian and Polish leadership annually counts losses amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars.

We also face the tasks of digitizing trade routes and creating a comprehensible system of customs transit that will be reliably insured against political risks.

How do you assess the potential for cooperation between Kazakhstan and Belarus?

It is enormous! A lot has been done, but together we can achieve even more.

Close Belarus-Kazakhstan relations were established back in the Soviet Union era. These contacts never ceased after our republics gained independence. We are partners on the EAEU, CIS, and CSTO platforms.

We have always had warm, friendly relations with the leadership of Kazakhstan. This has repeatedly helped solve the most challenging issues. A billion-dollar trade turnover, which has been maintained for three consecutive years, is far from our limit. We have made significant progress in production cooperation, industrial policy, transport, and agriculture. We expect to soon remove obstacles to cargo transit and fully restore air traffic.

Kazakhstan is a regular participant in our International Arts Festival “Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk” and last year a performer from your country won the pop song competition. We also have several joint projects for youth and cultural exchanges.

It is very significant for us that Belarus is becoming a full member of the SCO during Kazakhstan’s chairmanship year. We are grateful to the Kazakh team for their cooperation in this matter and their support of Belarus’s application. We look to the future of our relations with optimism and are making big plans for the future together.