National News

Foreign ministers of Belarus, Turkiye meet in Ankara

During his official visit to Turkey, Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Aleinik held talks with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan, BelTA learned from the press service of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry.

The parties noted that over the more than 30-year history of diplomatic relations, Belarus and Turkey have built a multi-level system of cooperation: between the heads of two states, governments, parliaments, ministries and departments.

"In this regard, it was noted that this is the third ministerial meeting over the past four months. A number of bilateral issues were discussed. Priority attention is paid to trade and economic relations which have been developing dynamically," the ministry said.

Over the past two years, the trade between the two countries has consistently exceeded $1 billion. According to Turkish data, by the end of this year it will exceed $1.5 billion. Therefore, an important topic of the meeting was the systematization of the entire volume of bilateral trade and the activation of mechanisms in logistics, transport, agriculture and others.

All these issues will be discussed in depth during the 11th meeting of the joint intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation scheduled for 8 November.

"In terms of politics, a schedule of promising meetings at various levels was considered. The parties noted the similarity of positions on most topical international issues. In this context, the responsible attitude of Belarus and Turkiye to the issue of food security was emphasized. The positive efforts by Turkiye in achieving and implementing the so-called grain deal were noted," the ministry stressed.

Against this background, Sergei Aleinik stressed the criminal nature of the illegal sanctions imposed nu the EU and the United States on the supply and transit of Belarusian potash fertilizers, without which it is impossible to alleviate the problem of hunger at a time when, according to the UN, this problem is relevant for three-quarters of the world's population.

The head of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also noted that from the very first days of the conflict in Ukraine, Minsk and Ankara called and insisted on its immediate cessation. During the meeting, concern was also expressed over the sharp deterioration of the situation in the zone of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the large-scale escalation of hostilities that resulted in numerous casualties among the civilian population.

The Belarusian minister of foreign affairs stressed that any conflicts should be resolved through political and diplomatic means: "We have repeatedly said that if we do not stop now, the conflict can lead to irreparable consequences for the region and the whole world."

In addition, the parties examined the cooperation in culture and healthcare, science and technology and the development of ties between youth organizations.