Minsk attempts to translate political rapprochement with Turkey into economic and trade cooperation

Following official talks in Minsk, Belarusian and Turkish Presidents, Alexander Lukashenko and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, signed a joint communiqué, which called upon the expansion and deepening of bilateral relations in several priority areas. Minsk aims to translate friendly relations with Ankara into deeper economic relations, especially, to boost Turkish investment in Belarus and Belarusian exports to Turkey. The Belarusian government is attempting to compensate for the reduction in Russian oil and gas rents by developing economic cooperation with other major global or regional players with similar views on the international agenda, such as, for example, China and Turkey. In addition, Belarus’ attempts to diversify economic relations, albeit without tangible results in most cases, could somewhat strengthen Minsk’s position in talks with the Kremlin.