He believes concerns that the EU might impose any sort of restrictions against Belorussian business are unfounded.
"First, it seems to me that there's a lot of incorrect information as there have been some reports that some country proposed applying sanctions to Belarus' largest industrial companies, including potassium plants and the chemical industry. As far as we know, it definitely won’t happen, there are no plans to do that," Kubilius said in an interview for the Žinių Radijas (News Radio) on Thursday.
According to him, such sanctions would be unwise as they would hurt ordinary Belorussian people.
"Sanctions are still applied to Lukashenko's closest people, some of them are businessmen but that list is rather limited. The concerns I have heard are based on unfounded information," Kubilius said.
He underlined that Lithuania is interested in the European Union having a common policy towards Belarus.
"And to have such a policy that would help Belarus solve its internal problems through the mechanism of sanctions, and would help the Lukashenko regime to realize that basic human rights, basic democratic rights are the necessary condition for Belarus to be able to open up economically to Europe, the Western world, and so be able to seek wellbeing for its people," the Lithuanian prime minister said.
Concerns over tougher sanctions against Belarus have been voiced by Lithuanian business and industry representatives. They are concerned that a diplomatic conflict between the EU and Belarus might grow into economic sanctions against Belarus and that would hurt Lithuanian business.
"Lithuanian investors in Belarus are concerned over the current uncertainty as they are afraid that the situation might have an impact on the progress of investment projects. And some big investors are delaying signing of investment agreements as it's not clear how the planned EU sanctions will be put to practice. Based on the worst-case scenario, Belarus' response to the EU sanctions might give Lithuania's economy a blow of up to LTL 7 billion (around EUR 2 billion)," the Lithuanian Confederation of Industrialists, Lithuanian Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Crafts, and Lithuanian Confederation of Business Employers said in a joint statement on Monday.
Lithuanian business representatives say that would have catastrophic consequences on many branches of Lithuania's economy.
In 2011, the Lithuanian port of Klaipėda handled 11.4 million tons of Belarusian cargo, and around 12.5 million tons are expected this year. Lithuanian businessmen believe the port might lose up to 40 percent of Belorussian cargo due to new sanctions as ships might be directed to Russian and Ukrainian ports.
According to the statement, various sectors are related to the port's activities.
Analysts from the Lithuanian Confederation of Industrialists estimate that total losses of the transport-logistics system might exceed LTL 2.5 billion.
EU foreign affairs ministers are set to discuss new sanctions against Belarus on Friday in Brussels.
