国际英语新闻:Belarus President reaffirms readiness to work with Russia in potash industry

MINSK, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko confirmed on Thursday its country's readiness to discuss the resumption of cooperation with Russian partners in the potash sector.

The Belarusian leader made the statement during a meeting here with the governor of the Rostov region of Russia Vasily Golubev.

Lukashenko reminded that earlier the cooperation between the Belarusian Belaruskali and the Russian Uralkali has collapsed not through the fault of the Belarusian side. He added that he has proposals to resume the cooperation.

The president stressed that the Belarusian side is ready for competition and doing business in a humane way or even in a brotherly way. He specified that such agreements can be concluded only on an honest and principled basis.

Earlier, Lukashenko announced his readiness to cooperate with Uralkali. He said that the representatives of this company repeatedly applied for the resumption of work with Belaruskali in production and sales of fertilizers. At the same time, he noted that the interests of the Belarusian side should be observed by 200 percent.

Uralkali severed relations with Belarus in July 2013. Almost a month later, the head of Uralkali was arrested in Minsk. These events caused a collapse in the global potash market.