The Belarusian leader made an official visit to Turkey on April, 16. Alyaksandr Lukashenka and Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the possibility of extending economic cooperation.
According to Lukashenka, the Belarusian-Turkish relations are entering a new level.
“People are waiting for a new milestone, as President Erdogan said at the beginning of the one-on-one talks. It is important that relevant ministers and the government implement our agreements. I believe that the current level of our partnership enables us to set even more ambitions goals,” state-run news agency BelTA quotes him.
Lukashenka, who considers Turkey ‘one of the key partners in the region’, stressed that Belarus attaches great importance to cooperation with the country.
For the first time, the Turkish leader arrived in Belarus in the company of 200 businessmen in November, 2016. Then Erdogan met with Alyaksandr Lukashenka and attended the opening of the mosque in Minsk. Some months ago, Recep Tayyip Erdogan invited his Belarusian counterpart to visit Turkey.
Apparently, there is mutual liking and respect between the two leaders; the Belarusian president even calls Erdogan ‘my friend’. However, a number of experts believe that whoever will become a ruler of the country, Belarus will be seeking to cooperate with Turkey.
“For Belarus, [the cooperation with] Turkey may give the opportunity to get gas and oil (in the offing) taking into account the fact that the Odessa-Brody oil pipeline runs through Ukraine. It has been already taken advantage of at least once,” political analyst Volha Kharlamava told Belsat.
