On January 14, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya held a meeting with Aušrinė Armonaitė, the Minister of Economy and Innovation of the Republic of Lithuania. Tsikhanouskaya thanked for the support of Belarus, assistance with the issuance of national visas and the opening of a humanitarian corridor, support the repressed companies and enterprises that temporarily relocate to Lithuania. Tsikhanouskaya stressed the importance of these companies continuing their work and returning to Belarus as soon as possible.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya: “The relocation of Belarusian companies is forced. People do not want to leave the country. They want to work for the good of their homeland. But the regime does not care about the people and the employees of the companies who are suffering because of the situation in the country. In this case, business exerts additional pressure on the regime because companies' taxes go to another state.”
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya proposed to simplify migration requirements for Belarusian entrepreneurs, students, activists, workers. Due to massive repressions, many are forced to leave the country temporarily. In particular, the issue of the employment of relocators with humanitarian visas was raised. Tsikhanouskaya also spoke about the importance of supporting human rights organizations located in Lithuania and work with Belarus and more than 100 Belarusian NGOs and media registered in Lithuania.
Tsikhanouskaya and Armonaitė also discussed the issue of sanctions and cooperation between Lithuania and Belarusian state-owned enterprises. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya proposed expanding the package of individual and targeted economic sanctions against the regime, including representatives of the administration of enterprises involved in repressions. They also discussed the possibility of targeted tariff sanctions against Belaruskali, where more than 130 people continue to strike despite pressure and repression. Tsikhanouskaya stressed that cooperation with the Belarusian regime is now unacceptable and discussed the situation of the Lithuanian company VMG, which plans to build a wood processing plant in Borisov (Belarus).
Armonaitė and Tsikhanouskaya agreed to hold an expert round table on the topic of future economic reforms in Belarus, taking into account the experience of Lithuania and the Baltic countries. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya stressed the importance of working on a cooperation strategy between the two countries so that the economic transformation of Belarus after Lukashenka would be painless.
