MINSK, April 11. /TASS/. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said that economic issues will be discussed at talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin ahead of the follow-up meeting of the prime ministers of the two countries.

"We decided to devote some time to economic issues. Because our prime ministers will meet in the near future. We need to help them a little - to set the guidelines. So, the economy is first of all," he told reporters. The corresponding video was published in the telegram channel of journalist Pavel Zarubin.

Touching upon the development of Belarusian-Russian cooperation, Lukashenko noted the importance of creating equal conditions for companies of the two countries.

"The conditions for business entities and for people should be equal - that’s what we need. Today, you, Russians, might have understood that Belarusians have a lot to offer. You did not realize this before," the Belarusian leader said.

He recalled that Belarusians have a lot to offer lot in the field of electronics and machine tool building.

"Now you have seen that we are filling up [such niches as] electronics, agriculture, as well as machine tool building. Recently Vladimir Vladimirovich [Putin] mentioned this, so you understood that in Belarus we have not just preserved the Soviet groundwork of science, industry, agriculture, but also modernized and improved it properly," he said.

According to the Belarusian leader, today "Russia needs Belarusians as much as they need Russia."