Joint meeting of the Boards of the Foreign Ministries of Belarus and Russia held in Moscow

An annual joint meeting of the boards of the Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Belarus and the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation was held in Moscow on October 31. The heads of the Ministries, Sergei Martynov and Sergei Lavrov chaired the meeting.

The members of the Board noted with satisfaction the high level of cooperation reached between the two states in the area of foreign policy.

The sides discussed in detail a wide range of bilateral cooperation issues between Belarus and Russia, the prospects of developing integration structures (Customs Union, EurAsEC, CSTO, Common economic space), and integration within other intergovernmental organizations (including OSCE and UN). The Boards have underlined the importance of building up common efforts within the UN to effectively implement the Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons, that was adopted during the 64th session of the UN General Assembly. The sides have demonstrated interest in developing a common approach to the issue of review conferences and other meetings within all the dimensions of the OSCE, including their length.

The participants of the meeting have also considered the key issues of the international politics (including the situation in the Middle East and in the North Africa). In this regard it was noted that the internal political problems experienced by some Arab states have to be solved in a peaceful manner within the framework of a broad national dialog that would be based on the international law and without foreign interventions. An effective use of regional structures (the Arab League, Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, the African Union) should be made to reach this goal.

Summing up the discussion the participants acknowledged that Belarus and Russia share common views and assessments of the international situation.

In the course of the substantive discussion the parties stressed the urgency of the foreign policy coordination in cooperation between the two countries in the sphere of energy, including the issues of nuclear energy safety.

Due to the necessity of more profound coordination of the Belarusian and Russian Foreign Ministries actions on the international arena the Program of concerted action in foreign policy by the member States of the Treaty on the Creation of the Union State in 2012-2013 was reviewed and adopted. This document stipulates certain actions aimed at the implementation of such strategic goals as further strengthening of the Belarus-Russia union relations, the protection and promotion of the interests of our countries in the international community and securing favorable external conditions for sustainable social and economic development of the two countries. The Program will be submitted for approval to the Supreme State Council of the Union State.

Within the framework of the agenda the parties also approved the Plan of consultations between the Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Belarus and the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation for the year 2012.

In the course of the working visit to the Russian Federation the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Belarus Sergei Martynov had a “vis-a-vis” meeting with his Russian colleague Sergei Lavrov. The sides discussed the key issues of the Belarus — Russia cooperation as well as the cooperation between the countries on the international arena.

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