Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has called for renewed economic cooperation with Poland, Lithuania and Latvia despite strained relations with the neighbouring countries.

Axar.az reports, citing BelTA, that Lukashenko made the remarks during a working visit to the Minsk district on Monday.

“We need to cooperate with our neighbors—with the Poles, the Lithuanians, and the Latvians," Lukashenko said.

"In the current situation, where Europe is facing food supply problems due to the drought, we need to gradually build cooperation with them. Neighbors are neighbors. When we move beyond merely looking at each other through gun sights and begin economic cooperation, it suggests that we might even manage to avoid war,” he added.