Ilham Was Ready to Invest $5 Billion in Armenia, Says Lukashenko

The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, stated that he proposed to Aliyev to consider investing in Armenia in the event of a conflict resolution, so as to 'finally reconcile and demonstrate this to the peoples of both countries.'

“And later I asked Ilham, 'Listen, well, agree, you need to somehow help Armenia so that the people see that you have reconciled. Well, how much can you invest in Armenia?' He said that at least five billion. But the main thing was that they were going to build pipelines. And Ilham proposed to run these gas and oil pipelines through Armenia,” said the Belarusian president.

He continued, “Why should I go through Georgia? I want to build through Armenia. This is good for us too. It was profitable,” Lukashenko remarked. At the same time, he noted that his proposals over the past decade have not been implemented.

“The President of Azerbaijan had no choice but to use force. It was impossible to move forward. More than a million refugees created tension. That was the problem,” Lukashenko stated.

He called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to finally reach a peaceful resolution to the issue. “So? Now if we have finally agreed to reconcile, we must sign peace. As I was told, this border is already divided. There are mountains. So agree! That process there is being ensured by Russia. Why are you still killing each other? Nearly 300 people have died, and they are talking about something else. It is time to calm down and come to an agreement,” Lukashenko concluded.