Lukashenka prompts Foreign Ministry to boost international economic cooperation

President Lukashenka has requested the Foreign Ministry to focus on foreign trade in some specific areas. Apparently, the Foreign Ministry efforts to boost cooperation with Asian countries have not yet delivered concrete results for the Belarusian economy. In late May – early June, the Belarusian officials significantly increased the level of contacts with China, India and Pakistan in an attempt to balance out possible pressure from the Kremlin and the EU during the presidential campaign in Belarus. Recently, the president has requested the Foreign Ministry and embassies abroad to focus on marketing products of Belarusian state-owned enterprise in the coming months, in order to unload stocks and preserve the employment levels at state enterprises until the presidential campaign.