Lukashenko met with Governor of Russia’s Samara Oblast Vyacheslav Fedorishchev

According to the head of state, Belarus is reorienting its diplomatic presence from Western countries toward nations interested in developing cooperation, primarily the Russian Federation. This strategic shift involves upgrading existing diplomatic missions and establishing new ones. “We have set ourselves a clear objective. We have virtually withdrawn our diplomatic missions from Western countries. If they don't want to cooperate with us, why should we keep knocking on closed doors? We are expanding our presence where we are welcome - and first and foremost in our Russian Federation,” the President said.

“The reserve of diplomats we have today we are ready to redeploy from West to East. If some don't want to work with Belarus, let it be so. There are plenty of countries that are happy to cooperate with us,” the Belarusian leader said.

According to the President, Belarus invites Russia’s Samara Oblast to set up joint ventures, both based on the existing competencies and in new avenues of cooperation.

“We will always assist in implementing our agreements. If we reach an agreement, we honor it,” the Belarusian leader assured. Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasized that the key task is to increase non-resource exports, enhance industrial cooperation and ramp up the production in the Belarus-Russia Union State.

"We are eager to establish joint enterprises, especially in Samara Oblast, which has a powerful industrial sector and promising companies. We’d like to cooperate with them. Of course, through such cooperation, we would gain new competencies, and you could benefit from talented, intelligent people in Belarus who could work together with you and develop a joint product," the President stated.  "I believe we need to focus on this today, while not forgetting, certainly, the traditional areas of cooperation, such as supplying our equipment to Samara Oblast, including passenger, cargo, utility, road construction, quarry, agricultural, fire-fighting, and other types of machinery."

The head of state stressed that Belarus produces all the essential industrial and agricultural goods for daily life. "I believe they will always be in demand in Samara Oblast, even though they know how to make everything themselves," the President said.

He paid particular attention to machine tool building, which is also vital in aircraft manufacturing and is a well-developed sector in Samara Oblast. Belarus, in turn, has been known for machine tool building since Soviet times. It was actually Belarusian signature industry along with several others. "Machine tool building is a very powerful industry in our manufacturing sector. We have preserved all the competencies and enterprises. You can pool our efforts. We’ll see strong results. This is why we are keen on working together in this area," the head of state proposed.

Aleksandr Lukashenko also suggested manufacturing component parts for passenger vehicles. "You have an entire cluster. We have enterprises that produce component parts. We can cooperate. In the end, we can share this huge Belarusian-Russian market and even export goods abroad together. There is no need to compete where competition is not necessary."

The President also proposed supplying Belarusian elevator equipment to the Russian region, noting its demand across many countries and especially throughout the post-Soviet space.

"I have mentioned joint ventures. Samara Oblast could be a great partner for us, given its highly developed infrastructure. We also strive to manufacture more innovative products. This is something worth considering," Aleksandr Lukashenko remarked.

He also assured that Belarus is eager to supply not only industrial goods but also agricultural products to Samara Oblast. "Food will always be needed in Russia as it’s needed today. So let’s work together, produce the necessary products, and sell them in our common markets."

"If you see anything of interest in Belarus, we are at your service. We are committed to working with you and cooperating. We are willing to do everything for you we can, and even what we currently cannot, but will be able to do in the future," the Belarusian leader concluded.

“Space, rocket science, aircraft industry… This is what we are very interested in Samara. You have rocket engineering at the highest level,” the head of state said.

He noted that Belarus cooperates with Russia in space development. Focus is on the creation of artificial Earth satellites, various chips, etc. “There were some concerns about this side of things (as they imposed sanctions against us, as Western partners withdrew from cooperation). We have the enterprises such as  Integral, BelOMO and others, which manufacture, among other things, the chip production equipment. We're good today. Everything flies.”

“At your service is everything that interests you. We'll manufacture anything you ask. We are interested in your experience in rocket engineering and aircraft building,” the Belarusian leader said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that thanks to the agreements with the Russian President, Belarus has made great progress in the field of aircraft construction. This includes a joint project to create a 19-seat multi-purpose aircraft Osvei, the production of components.

"We will definitely build Osvei. We will fulfill our obligations,” the President said. “We are ready to work on it. You know that we have a powerful repair base for aircraft, helicopters and armored vehicles. We have been developing it to be able to produce things, not only repair. We started with some nodes, for example in the aircraft industry. Now we have reached a higher level. We have a great interest in cooperation with your enterprises. I think that we will common grounds ont his front too.”