ST. PETERSBURG, December 25 President Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said that the EAEU is not isolated from the outside world and is open to cooperation.
«Our integration association is open to mutually beneficial and equal cooperation with leading economies. We do not isolate ourselves from the outside world, no matter how much someone might want it,» Lukashenko said, speaking at the EAEU summit.
He emphasized that the EAEU countries are building dialogue on conditions of equality and respect for the interests of the parties.
«The latest example… is the signing of an agreement to create a free trade zone with Iran. Today it is the largest economy in the Middle East, a key element of the Southern trade route with the Middle East and South Asia,» Lukashenko said.
He also raised the issue of international positioning of the association. Lukashenko said that he would like to have a plan for the international activities of the Eurasian Economic Commission, to make this work more systematic. He called for more active development of the institution of an observer state in the EAEU, making more efforts and identifying more directions for the real integration of the integration potentials of the EAEU, SCO, BRICS.
«We need to cooperate more closely with them, from this we will only become stronger. We need to take advantage of participation in such dynamically developing associations with Russia, which works in them as one of the key founding countries. We will strongly support Russia in this important collective work,» added Lukashenko.