Lukashenka flew off to draw Kazakhstan’s money

During the official visit to Kazakhstan Lukashenka requires fulfilling his orders; whereas independent experts nickname this visit as “the visit of soaring and fading economic hopes”.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev has met his Belarusian counterpart, Aliaksandr Lukashenka, who is paying a two-day official visit to Kazakhstan.

Ahead of the visit, the press office of the Belarusian president said that the two leaders were expected to discuss bilateral cooperation and the development of the integration process in the post-Soviet space, especially in the Russia-led Customs Union and Common Economic Space. The meeting itself took place on Friday, October 4.

Details of the bilateral documents signed during the October 4 meeting have not been made public, RFE/RL says.

"For us, Kazakhstan is a reliable friend and ally," Lukashenka reported saying. "Together, we are building a unique formation at the post-Soviet territory - the Eurasian Economic Union, which will provide great opportunities for the development of our countries' economies."

As Euroradio reports, the Belarusian leader underlined that "it is necessary to fully use the advantages of the United Economic Space to strengthen the mutually beneficial relations between our countries". Adoption of the road map of the bilateral trading-economic cooperation for 2014-2016 will facilitate reaching this goal, Aliaksandr Lukashenka thinks. 

Kazakhstan is a major trade partner for Belarus. Thus, it remains Belarus' third partner among the CIS countries (after Russia and Ukraine) regarding the scope of export. Let us also recall that Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan founded the Customs Union in 2010 as a counterweight to the European Union's economic sphere. The three member states launched the Common Economic Space in 2012.