KIEV -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko, on Friday at a bilateral forum held in Zhytomyr, northern Ukraine.

This is their first meeting since Zelensky took office in May. On relations between their two countries, Zelensky said "we understand each other. I think our peoples are friendly, mentally close," describing Belarus as a "good neighbor."

Lukashenko said "you have never had any problems from the territory of Belarus and with Belarus, you will never have them. We will always be the most kind and reliable of your supporters, partners."

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TOKYO -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe delivered a policy speech outlining his goals ahead in an extraordinary Diet session convened on Friday and to end in December, marking the first such assembly since the upper house election in July.

Abe, leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), said that the economy remains his top priority amid a consumption tax increase which came into effect on Tuesday here and other domestic downside pressures facing the government's balance sheet including ballooning social welfare costs.

"Should downside risks become evident, we will take flexible and sufficient steps without hesitation to make sure that the economy is on a firm growth path," the Japanese leader said.

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NEW DELHI -- Chinese telecom company Huawei's products have a "leading edge" over its competitors, an Indian telecom industry leader said here Thursday.

"Huawei has actually surprised me on how fast they have been able to take the technology curve to the level where it is leading-edge," Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of one of India's largest telecom companies Bharti Airtel Limited, was quoted by media reports as saying.

Speaking at the India Economic Summit held in the Indian capital city of New Delhi, Mittal said Huawei's technology is "far superior" to other brands such as Ericsson and Nokia.

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MOSCOW -- Attempts to contain China are bound to fail and even backfire, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.

"Anyone who undertakes such an attempt will sooner or later understand that it is simply impossible, and these people will end up hurting themselves," Putin said during the Q&A session at an annual meeting of Russian think tank Valdai Discussion Club in the Black Sea city of Sochi.

"If we join efforts together to create an atmosphere of cooperation and try to establish a collective security system, that will be beneficial," he told the audience. Enditem

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