“Let your experts, ministers, and government members come to Belarus. The doors are open to Algerians as our reliable, kind friends. See what we can do. If something suits you, if you like something, we are ready to liaise and work with you. We are co-operating not as colonialists, but as friends. We are ready to share technologies with you, to supply and jointly produce the appropriate equipment for these technologies, and to train your people how to utilise the latter, if necessary,” President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko said at a meeting with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on December 3rd.
Over the past two weeks, the President’s working schedule was marked by co-operation with the countries of the far arc. Aleksandr Lukashenko paid a visit to Myanmar, after which he held talks with the Sultan of Oman and visited Algeria, thus encircling the geographical chain of Southeast Asia — Middle East — North Africa.
It is worth noting that the issue of co-operation with non-CIS countries has been one of the main issues for the Head of State this year. If to put aside Aleksandr Lukashenko’s meetings, which touched upon the matters unrelated to the economy (exclusively political topics, security, and so on) and analyse his contacts based on trade co-operation, then quite an impressive picture emerges: in 2025, before his recent trip to the south of the planet, the President of Belarus discussed specific economic projects with:
– the Sultan of Oman;
– Chinese business circles;
– President of Indonesia;
– Prime Minister of Myanmar;
– Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Ethiopia;
– Prime Minister of Pakistan.
These states represent the long arc alone, and are connected with the Presidential level in just less than a year. Actually, it is necessary to understand that meetings and negotiations of heads of state have, as a rule, a delayed effect if they are not accompanied by the signing of specific agreements.
From this point of view, Aleksandr Lukashenko’s recent trip to the three world regions finalises the agreements reached earlier, and Belarus’ ‘discovery’ of Indonesia, Ethiopia, and Pakistan for itself this year is likely to result in substantive agreements in the near future.
The points of Aleksandr Lukashenko’s trip are quite interestingly combined by several aspects at once. The first one is religious. Islam unites Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa. Well, Myanmar (which the President visited first) is a predominantly Buddhist country, but Islam is the dominant religion of the Asian Southeast, and it is practiced by almost 250 million people there. It would be wrong to consider the prospect of working in the region as a whole without taking this factor into account. The religious aspect is related to the second feature of the trip: the population. Islamic and, to a certain extent, Buddhist states are growing. Accordingly, they have markets, which means they determine the economic agenda. The third point that links the regions is their logistical importance. In the paradigm of the new world economy, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa can be considered as giant transit hubs, territories for the distribution of any type of products anywhere in the world.
Accordingly, Belarus looks like a kind of ‘assemblage point’ of the interests of world states in these chains, and it’s an interesting prospect for entering the pool of major transit players.
Algeria is probably the most interesting partner for co-operation in this list, and there should be not so much talk about the capabilities of just one state. Rather, Algeria is capable of becoming another basic ‘entry point’ to the African market, which potential Aleksandr Lukashenko identified as ‘China 30 years ago’. Until recently, Belarus had Egypt, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Angola, and Nigeria as its main partners in Africa, but Algeria, Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, and Kenya now have the opportunity to join them. It should be noted that Belarusian contacts are being established taking into account the regional specifics of the African continent. The largest number of industrialised countries is located in North Africa, and Belarus has a long-standing partner here – Egypt, as well as new prospects for co-operation with Algeria. Ethiopia can become a key partner in East Africa, Nigeria and Guinea in West Africa, and Angola and Zimbabwe in South Africa. In this way, a uniform presence of Belarus on the entire continent can be achieved. The constant presence and progressive expansion of the republic’s co-operation with partners can make it a significant player in the African market. Based on this, the President’s words about the Belarusian niche in the Algerian market can be extrapolated to the entire continent, given that the issue of food production, which means dependence on fertilisers, is acute for most African countries.
Actually, Belarus’ specific agreements reached in the three world regions make it possible to make important conclusions. First of all, based on the country’s foreign policy and economic contacts, it can be asserted that it is impossible to isolate anyone in the modern world now. In the absence of European markets, Belarus is successfully reorienting commodity flows to countries in Eastern Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. Secondly and most importantly, Belarus is clearly becoming a subject in world markets after 2020. True, a small country without access to the sea cannot be a subject of geopolitics, but – in the new conditions – Belarus’ entry into the markets of entire regions has a number of competitive advantages.
Firstly, there is no colonial background. Belarus is joining its partners without historical negativity, but with good associations thanks to the supplies made in Soviet times. Secondly, Belarus’ non-belonging to the Western world is now more of an advantage than a disadvantage, especially for countries that faced colonialism. Thirdly, over the past 10-15 years, official Minsk has secured the status of a reliable partner, working with an eye to exclusively mutual interests. The fourth advantage of Belarus is the ability to quickly make and, if necessary, adjust decisions aimed at mutual co-operation.
Thus, by actively working in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America, Belarus acts as a partner that is offering alternative co-operation options in the regions.
Belarus is seen as a like-minded country that is not part of the collective West which is ‘losing importance’, and this means that the republic is a developing element of a new global co-operation. In turn, inclusion in the emerging industrial, logistics and technological chains strengthens Belarus’ sovereignty.