MINSK, March 6 (Itar-Tass) — Belarussian authorities are highly concerned by the situation that has taken shape around Iran, President Alexander Lukashenko said Tuesday as he met with Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, who is currently visiting Belarus.
“We’re closely watching the situation that’s unfolding around Iran and we’re not indifferent to it,” Lukashenko said.
“Belarus has the feelings of deep sympathy for and a deep understanding of everything that’s happening in Iran because we here, too, experience similar attacks from time to time, albeit they are not so tough,” he said.
Belarus actively resists any dictate and obtrusion of will from the outside, Lukashenko indicated. “We’re against the situations where others tell a sovereign state how it should develop and what way it should go,” he said, adding that the Iranian government shares these ideas.
The government of any country should aim, first and foremost, “to make people’s life inside the country better and more stable.”
“I know that the President, parliament, and the spiritual leader of Iran set precisely this goal for themselves and we support the policies of this kind,” Lukashenko said.
As he mentioned the bilateral Belarussian-Iranian relations, he indicated that the Roadmap and a program of action for the promotion of bilateral relations have been determined.
“We plan to stick our heels into fulfilling this program,” Lukashenko said. “If the Iranian leadership has will for this, on its part, we’ll step up the practical implementation of our plans that we mapped out in the course of meetings with Iran’s leaders.”
Lukashenko said he hopes these efforts will lead up to a broadening of cooperation between Belarus and Iran.
He stated the presence of smoothly functioning relations with Iranian leaders.
“I do hope that after the Iranian parliamentary election, which quite luckily was undisturbed, Iran will continue getting stability and mobility and will be looking into its citizens’ future,” Lukashenko said.
Ali Akbar Salehi said, on his part, the Belarussian leadership and people have been displaying courage for the past ten years.
“Quite possibly, you run into problems and experience pressure, and yet you’ll turn out winners, since we believe that justice will triumph,” he said.
He conveyed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s warmest greetings to his Belarussian hosts and indicated that Ahmadinejad is considering new opportunities and approaches to the expansion of bilateral cooperation – “a new start of some kind”.
Salehi also conveyed the Iranian President’s invitation to visit Iran.