Lukashenko Pledges to Cooperate, Trade with Iraq :: Charter'97 :: News

Belarus upholds peaceful ways of the Iraqi problem’s solution, said during the January 21 press-conference Alexander Lukashenko. “If the incident is all about oil, Americans will manage to reach consensus with Saddam, I’m sure. He doesn’t care to whom he sells it. Russia doesn’t need it, for she sells oil herself. We can’t buy it there too. One forth of their oil is used by the States. And so Iraq will sell it to them. Why waging wars, I wonder? Can this problem be solved only by means of armed conflict? So we support peaceful resolution within the UN format,” – said Lukashenko.

“Observers found no nukes, where the Englishmen said there were some. If Americans know where they are, let them show to the experts, who will go and check out. They can’t convince us that Iraq has something, which doesn’t exist in reality. This I know for sure – Iraq has no nuclear weapons.”

Meantime, Alexander Lukashenko underscored, reports BelaPAN, that Belarus has her own “great interests” in Iraq. “We are cooperating quite fruitfully, you know,” – said he: “However, we are restricted by sanctions. We are interested in these sanctions’ being lifted, so that we could cooperate and trade with Iraq”.