Interviews & Articles

The head of the Consular Directorate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Alexander Ostrovsky responds to the questions of the host of the TV program “Nedelya” on February 3, 2012

Sergei Martynov: On September 20–22, at the 65th session of the UN General Assembly held in the UN Headquarters in New York the heads of state and government and other officials gathered to analyze the implementation of the so-called Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) ratified at the UN summit in 2000 and are to be realized by 2015.

That means that many of the countries with which we had a little more strange relationship than today started to understand that engagement works. Disengagement actually doesn't work.

I would like to emphasize that we should talk not only about benefits for Belarus, but also benefits for the European Union, because...

As my colleagues at the Belarus Foreign Ministry and I engage with our counterparts in Brussels in anticipation of the European Union's planned new Eastern Partnership program, I want to tackle the misconceptions that still surround my country.

Mr. Foreign Minister, a decade and a half ago, your country wanted as little to do with the West as possible.

The overriding strategic objective pursued by the Republic of Belarus in the international arena is to defend its national sovereignty, rights, freedoms and the legal interests of Belarusian citizens, public and state interests. That is the natural ideological foundation underlying our foreign policy.

In February 2008, a major global event on human trafficking – the Vienna Forum – captured international attention and received broad global acclaim.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation have just rounded off a session of the joint panel.

Sergei Nikolaevich, quite a number of different opinions are being voiced now that, after successful talks with Russia, Belarus may reject its attempts, its willingness to arrange a dialogue with the West. How valid are these assumptions?