In a rare moment of international visibility, Belarusian strongman Aleksandr Lukashenko welcomed Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for an official visit to Minsk on April 10, hailing it as a significant milestone in bilateral relations.
The visit, which continued on April 11, resulted in multiple agreements spanning military cooperation, food security, and trade. Most notably, Lukashenko offered to accept up to 150,000 Pakistani workers to help address Belarus's deepening labor shortage.
For Lukashenko, whose presidency remains unrecognized by the West following the widely disputed 2020 election and subsequent brutal crackdown on dissent, any direct engagement with a foreign leader carries enormous symbolic and strategic value. Isolated diplomatically, shunned by the European Union and the United States, and increasingly reliant on Moscow, Lukashenko has few opportunities to present himself as a legitimate international actor.
"Pakistan has many people who want and are ready to work in Belarus," Lukashenko said during a joint press conference, emphasizing Belarus would create the "necessary conditions" for their employment. With more than 198,000 job vacancies reported across the country, the proposal aims to inject labor into an economy under pressure.
The move, however, raises alarm bells across neighboring European Union states.
The offer to import tens of thousands of Pakistani workers can certainly be viewed with suspicion in neighboring NATO member states Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania.
In a 2021-22 border crisis, Belarus was accused of using migrants as pawns in a political standoff with the EU. Belarus facilitated travel for migrants from the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia -- including Pakistan -- and directed them toward the EU's external borders, triggering a humanitarian and security crisis.
At the time, thousands of migrants were left stranded in forests along Belarus's borders with Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania, often with no food, shelter, or legal protection.
Belarusian authorities were accused of weaponizing migration in retaliation for Western sanctions.
Polish, Latvian, and Lithuanian border guards resorted to pushbacks, resulting in dozens of deaths, international condemnation, and an enduring mistrust of Minsk's migration policies.
During the visit, Belarus and Pakistan signed a military cooperation agreement and a roadmap for defense-industrial ties through 2027, deepening ties between the two countries, as well as other pacts and economic memoranda.
Notably absent from the spotlight, however, is any substantial record of recent trade volume.
The Belarusian Foreign Ministry last reported annual bilateral trade with Pakistan for the year 2020, saying it ranged from $50 million to $65 million -- a far cry from a 2015 vow to grow trade between the two countries to $1 billion.
For comparison, Pakistan's primary trading partners in 2023 included China, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia; Belarus didn't make the list.
For Lukashenko, however, Sharif's visit may offer a diplomatic lifeline and a moment of validation. For the EU, it brings back memories of 2021-2022. It may be a warning sign that the authoritarian leader of Belarus could once again use people as leverage in his ongoing standoff with the West.

Published Date:2025-04-22