MINSK, August 9./TASS/. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has beaten his own record in the "Big Conversation with the President" on Monday, which lasted for 8 hours and 15 minutes, against 7 hours 25 minutes during the previous meeting in this format, BelTA news agency reports.

About 300 representatives of the Belarusian community, experts and journalists participated in the "Big Conversation with the President". Journalists from foreign media outlets were also among the participants. The meeting at the Independence Palace on the occasion of the first anniversary of the presidential election in the republic was broadcast live on TV and the Internet.

Lukashenko discussed a wide range of topics with the participants in the conversation. The first ‘Big Conversation’ was held in February 2017. Unlike the traditional news conferences, this format envisages an open discussion of participants in the meeting with the president on any issues on the domestic and foreign agenda. On Sunday, experts in Minsk said they expected that the conversation would be "long, substantial and sincere".