Johannesburg, 25 August 2023 (TDI): The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, Sergei Aleinik addressed the BRICS-Africa Outreach and BRICS Plus Dialogue on August 24, where he voiced the readiness of Belarus to join BRICS.
He on behalf of the President of Belarus congratulated South Africa on the successful chairmanship of the BRICS and thanked for the opportunity provided to Belarus for participating in BRICS-Africa Outreach and BRICS Plus dialogues for the first time.
He delineated that a demand exists globally for associations that are finding ways to strengthen cooperation and ensure development without posing opposition towards others. He in this regard stressed that this is how Belarus sees BRICS.
Moreover, he admired the inclusiveness and focus on common interests among the BRICS members. He called this to be the future and reiterated that discriminatory and neo-colonial approaches should remain the things of the past.
He admitted that the attractiveness of BRICS is evident by witnessing the increasing number of applications for accession and shared that Belarus does not stand behind in this regard.
He notified the forum, that in May 2023, the Belarusian President officially expressed the intention of Belarus to join BRICS and hoped that the application of accession to be considered and accepted positively.
Belarusian Foreign Minister, emphasized that Belarus supports and generates initiatives of peacekeeping in global and regional dimensions.
He added that Belarus stands for the diversity of development paths and is keen to combine its efforts with BRICS in this regard and that they do not pose a threat to anyone or generate tension but rather stand for peace, creation and sustainable development.
Belarusian Foreign Minister in his address highlighted that Belarus is one of the world leaders in the export of IT services and a significant manufacturer of mechanical engineering, mining, agricultural equipment, chemical and petrochemical products, as well as foodstuffs on the world market.
He said that they are a reliable partner for mutual trade and investment, and also for implementation of joint projects with BRICS countries and all African countries.
He added that they are ready to make a vital contribution towards maintaining international food security, including in the countries participating in today’s Dialogue.
He brought the focus of the forum that Belarus is one of the world leaders in the production of potash fertilizers. The share of the country in the world potash trade decreased to 9% in 2022, in comparison to the trade of 20% before 2022 due to the restrictions on trade by Western countries.
He informed that as a result there was a shortage and hike in prices of fertilizers worldwide. Also, the share of Belarus in the African potash market in 2022 fell from 42% to 3% which led to a 16% drop in the grain harvest in Africa.
He emphasized that Belarus in an effort to ensure their common interests and prevent other states from suffering for the sake of Western ambitions, are looking for new supply chains to restore fertilizer supplies.
He articulated that the foregoing tasks require non-standard solutions and new tools, and for that, they are ready to explore them with BRICS.
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He also counted on their support for the aspiration of BRICS to expand cooperation in the field of logistics and cross-border e-commerce.
He stated that Belarus is ready to join BRICS efforts to increase mutual settlements in national currencies and create common payment instruments. Also, is ready to support the New Development Bank’s initiative in financing more projects in local currencies.
In this context, he called the dominance of the dollar and euro in international trade to be risky and financial policies to be discreditable.
He set forth that Belarus sees potential in the interaction of BRICS – EAEU – SCO, and possibly other regional formats.
Besides that, urged the forum to think about the implementation of the initiative to hold a summit of these associations, as proposed by the Belarusian President.
He also voiced support for the BRICS Sports Games in 2024 and shared that the Belarusian team is ready to take part in this significant sporting event if invited.
Lastly, he said that Belarus supports the efforts of BRICS and is ready to work for their common goals.
