On Participation of Foreign Minister of Belarus in the Eastern Partnership Summit

29 November 2013

29-11-2013

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus Mr.Vladimir Makei led the Belarusian delegation at the Eastern Partnership (EaP) Summit that took place in Vilnius on November 28-29, 2013.

In his plenary statement Mr.Vladimir Makei gave an assessment of the EaP implementation and the results achieved, and outlined challenges facing the participants, which require the right responses important for the future of the EaP.

Mr. Makei noted that Belarus assesses the achievements of the Eastern Partnership as a regional project as mixed. This assessment largely results from a number of ‘false choices’ imposed on the partner countries with regard to the content and speed of modernization, forms and modalities of interaction, and their strategic integration aspirations.

In this regard, Mr.Vladimir Makei advocated more consideration to be given to peculiarities and needs of the partner countries, precluding this initiative from becoming a “bone of contention” and leading to emergence of new dividing lines in Europe. In this context, Mr.Makei stressed the importance of practical implementation of the Belarusian idea to develop an ‘integration of integrations’ with the aim of establishing a common economic space ‘from Lisbon to Vladivostok’ and building an efficient interaction between the EU and the Single Economic Space.

The Belarusian Foreign Minister confirmed Belarus’ interest in developing an open dialogue and mutually beneficial cooperation with the European Union to form a true partnership. Mr.Vladimir Makei stressed the importance of solving problems that are of high priority for ordinary citizens. He announced Belarus’ readiness to launch negotiations with the European Union on signing visa facilitation and readmission agreements. He also underlined the importance of the EU lifting sanctions and restrictions against Belarus, which contradict the philosophy and fundamental principles of the EaP.

The summit participants adopted the Vilnius declaration that contains a roadmap of the EaP further development. The document confirms the basic principles of the Eastern Partnership, such as equality of its participants, and reflects the objective differences in aspirations and approaches of certain partner countries in building their relationship with the EU.

The declaration recognizes the important role of Belarus in providing the European energy security, welcomes the sector dialogues on economic, financial, environmental and educational issues arranged between the EU and Belarus, and positively notes Belarus’ participation in EU nuclear stress-tests. The summit participants noted the ongoing exchange of views between the Government of Belarus and the European Union on identification of the best forms of cooperation on modernization issues, and expressed interest in launching negotiations between the Republic of Belarus and the EU on visa facilitation and readmission agreements.

Mr. Vladimir Makei had a bilateral meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland Radoslav Sikorski. The parties discussed opportunities for further developing the bilateral dialogue and relations in short- and long-term perspectives.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus also had a number of meetings with heads and senior officials of European institutions as well as ministers of foreign affairs of EU member states and partner countries.