MINSK, August 4. /TASS/. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko considers the preservation of the country’s independence and sovereignty important and wants to remove the dependence in oil and gas, finance, and other spheres. This is mentioned in his electoral program published on Tuesday in the Zvyazda daily.

"Independence comes at a price but it is worth preserving and passing it on to next generations," the incumbent president said.

According to him, over the quarter of the century, the republic’s citizens were building a "common house with windows looking to the East and West both." "We’ve always been open to friendship and cooperation. We’ve never meddled in the internal affairs of other states. Our peaceful diplomacy has always been and remains a guarantee of Belarusian security," he emphasized.

However, according to him, the world enters "an era of global geopolitical shocks." "Everything will be done so that the disagreements in foreign policy won’t affect the friendship of the people who are destined to live together in this land in the center of Europe and so that the geography of friendly countries expands," Lukashenko stated.

He also noted that the "situation demonstrated how important it is to remove the country’s dependence in oil and gas, finance, and other spheres." "When resolving these issues, we will adhere to global trends of creating new branches of economy," the Belarusian president pointed out. He also promised that the authorities wouldn’t resort to "shock therapy" in the economic sphere.

The presidential election in Belarus will take place on August 9. On Tuesday, early voting begins which will continue through August 8. Besides the incumbent head of state, there are four presidential candidates in the running - Co-Chairman of the Tell the Truth movement Andrey Dmitriev, former member of the lower house of the Belarusian parliament Anna Kanopatskaya, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, and Chairman of the Belarusian Social Democratic Hramada party Sergey Cherechen. Two applicants, ex-head of Belgazprombank Viktor Babariko who is under arrest and ex-head of Hi-Tech Park Valery Tsepkalo, were denied registration.