Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

Our meeting is taking place on the eve of the old style New Year. This day, following a tradition, we evaluate the experience we gained and try to look to the future.

The first year of a new millennium A.D. was rich in events. Regrettably, there were tragic events too.

After the 11th of September the world has indeed changed. The world community had to look for responses to urgent questions and extraordinary challenges whose scale was difficult even to imagine before.

The threat of terrorism has become a priority problem. The position of the Republic of Belarus on this question remains clear and fundamental - terrorism must be firmly eradicated from international relations.

It would be a deep misapprehension, however, to believe that force methods alone can resolve the problem of terrorism. If its generating causes are not done away with, the humanity will never be able to overcome that disaster. The causes are well-known: they are poverty, unemployment, stratification (of individuals and states) into superrich and superpoor, degradation of moral principles and outburst of extreme fanaticism.

Counteracting measures on the part of the world community against violence and hatred must be well-thought out and resolute. There is a need now to reach quite a new level of interaction between "big" and "small" countries, between developed and developing ones.

It is a matter of the right choice of political, economic and social principles that will unite countries and peoples in resolving the problems the humanity faces at the turn of centuries and millennia.

We must learn lessons of history, of the United Nations experience.

Let us recall to our memory - the victory over fascism was achieved thanks to unity and cohesion of the peoples of various countries. That experience must not be forgotten!

We should follow the joint ideas and initiatives which were approved at major international forums, including the United Nations Millennium Summit and the 56th General Assembly session of the UN.

Efficiency of responses to the current challenges will depend on our ability to display political will and strategic far-sightedness. Under no pretext must we allow escalation of hostilities, a new spiral in the armaments race, confrontation of countries, religions and peoples.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

Last year marked the tenth anniversary of the entry of Belarus to the international arena as an independent subject of the world policy.

The main outcome is that the Republic of Belarus, during the past decade of its independent development, took a worthy place in the world community of nations. Belarus has proved its status of a peace-loving, stable and democratic country by concrete achievements.

The foreign policy of our State is fully based on the principles of international law and justice, it is notable for its predictability and consistency.

Union of Belarus and Russia - the union of two fraternal countries and peoples - remains our invariable foreign policy priority. We are united by common history and common future.

We shall be working hard at the development of the Commonwealth of Independent States, we shall be creating optimal conditions for the functioning of the headquarters of this organization in Minsk. We pin great hopes on the development of the Eurasian Economic Community, our country being one of its founders.

Establishing around Belarus a zone of good-neighbourliness we do and will be doing everything necessary in order to develop relations with our neighbours - Ukraine, Baltic States and Poland.

I am confident that solidarity of interests, first of all economic and cultural ones, will, in the long run, move the European Union towards re-establishment of the full-fledged relations with Belarus. We are ready to it.

A graphic example of equal partnership of different-sized countries is our relations with the great China.

The Republic of Belarus will be continuing to build up fruitful interaction with India, both in economic and in political fields. The Republic of Turkey is among our long-term promising partners.

Our country will be continuing to actively cooperate with the states of Asia and Africa, also within the framework of the Nonalignment Movement.

We are ready, as before, to develop an equal dialogue with the United States of America on the whole range of issues, including fight against terrorism.

We will be continuing to be active participants of the setting up of a new international security architecture. We are firm supporters of the preservation of the strategic stability and the system of international agreements on non-proliferation of nuclear, chemical and bacteriological weapons.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

The year 2001 in Belarus was marked by the presidential election campaign.

Not only a concrete candidate to the post of the Head of the State was chosen. It was also a choice of the way of the development of this country.

The people of Belarus clearly expressed themselves in favour of socio-political stability and economic growth. More than three quarters of the voters who took part in the election voted for a strong and prosperous Belarus.

I think, esteemed diplomats, you realize perfectly well how important it is to have in the Europe's geographical centre peace and order, creative work of the people and strong effective authority.

By a strong state we mean protectedness of people against crime and threats of terrorism, creation of conditions for a free development of any person, and guarantees of social and national justice.

Today we orientate ourselves to the future. We have a long-term forward programme at whose implementation we are now working. We attract investments to our country. We provide greater economic freedom to every person. We carry out optimization of the system of the state administration.

We build our own house keeping in mind the tendencies of the development of regional and world economies. We assume that future will bring us a single economic space, but cultural, socio-political and national particularities of all peoples will be preserved.

I thank you, esteemed diplomats, for the support you give to our country in resolving difficult post-Chernobyl problems. I thank you for your active involvement in the process of extending the cultural and economic ties of our country.

Such fruitful work has found and will find understanding with the leadership of Belarus. It has won and will win the deep sympathy of our people.

Allow me to sincerely congratulate you on the recent holidays of the New Year and Christmas.

I am raising this glass to friendship between our peoples.

To the clear sky and the happy future of our countries.

To the strengthening of peace, mutual understanding and partnership!

To you, distinguished diplomats!

I wish good health and well-being to you, to your dearest and nearest.