Why Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and North Africa are so important for Belarus was explained in the in the interview on current events by Anatoly Boyashov, analyst of the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Research.
He drew attention to the fact that these regions contain fast-growing markets, as they are home to states that adhere to an anti-colonial course and develop their economies with their own resources. “They diversify them, and therefore the demand for products from Belarus increases under such conditions. This is the first point. The second is that these are countries with non-Western political systems. These are states that, in practice rather than in rhetoric, engage with other countries without pursuing ideological slogans. The third point is that these are countries that have weight within their regions. This is what is referred to as a point of anchoring, meaning something that can later be used at a larger regional level. These are countries that are expected to promote Belarusian exports, including within their own regions,” the analyst explained.
All of this is the joint work carried out by the President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At present, the visit of the Belarusian leader to countries of the so-called “far arc” serves as a synchronisation of positions and an audit of what has been accomplished, and work is underway to outline future plans, because these states are developing dynamically, and Belarus’s task is to keep its finger on the pulse.
Belarus enters Asia and Africa with package agreements. For example, the experience of engagement with Myanmar can be cited, where there is high demand for the mechanisation of agriculture. The same strategy is applied, for instance, in Africa. Today Belarusian specialists (in addition to Belarus’s exports of machinery and fertilisers) can increase soil productivity by around 50 per cent. “This is a package proposal that is also based on Belarusian competencies. And today Belarus’s experience in Africa shows that this is both realistic and in demand. In some countries it also guarantees stable development. The same applies to Myanmar, where 70 per cent of the population is employed in agriculture,” the interlocutor noted.
Anatoly Boyashov stated:
“In the second place, this concerns technological sovereignty, because Belarus has no geopolitical ambitions. It simply builds ties with strategic partners on the basis of anti-colonialism. It seeks neither external support nor any geopolitical equilibrium.”
In the expert’s view, the Republic of Belarus operates in these regions because there is a request and genuine interest in cooperation with our country. Belarus, incidentally, always fulfils its obligations, which is why work is conducted with the countries mentioned above. “There are attempts by extremist outlets to attach some sort of label to them, claiming that they are allegedly military juntas, but this is not the case. These are states that are building their statehood and constructing economies in the interests of broad layers of the population. The fact that they have nationalised assets previously owned by the British does not automatically make them malevolent. As they build their statehood, Belarus can lend a shoulder in this process,” Anatoly Boyashov concluded.
By Viktoria Senkevich