Events

MINSK, 6 October (BelTA) – One cannot continue living in a world dominated by confrontational rhetoric. Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei made the statement in his final speech during the first conference of Belarus’ honorary consuls, the press service of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told BelTA.

Vladimir Makei stressed that peace-loving, universal, and timely initiatives for the international scene are some of the visiting cards of Belarus. In particular, during the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly session the Belarus president put forward the initiative to launch a broad discussion about a new Helsinki process under the OSCE aegis.

“I’ve explained why we did that. Because it is impossible to continue living in the world where confrontational rhetoric dominates. When we meet at some forums, one can get the impression that people don’t hear each other. We only fling accusations at each other. We don’t suggest any constructive solutions, which could help us get out of the deadlock. These are the reasons that encouraged us to start a new discussion to put an end to this confrontational rhetoric and facilitate the resolution of contradictions between countries in the Euro-Atlantic space and Europe,” stressed the Belarusian minister of foreign affairs.

He mentioned Belarus’ readiness to suggest Minsk as the starting venue for this process. “But you, dear honorary consuls, can make your contribution to creating the group of like-minded nations for promoting the Helsinki 2 idea by working with the political circles of your countries. We believe that it is a very important task. One can hardly accept it today. But I am convinced that after a while we will definitely start doing concrete work in this direction,” said Vladimir Makei.

The official also noted that facilitating dialogues and overcoming dividing lines are the key principles of the Belarusian policy. This is why promoting compatibility in Greater Europe is the title theme of Belarus’ presidency in the Central European Initiative, Belarus’ first CEI presidency since the country gained independence. “We’ve also talked about it: if we start bringing together economic processes in the European and Eurasian economic space, it will benefit each country of ours, it will benefit trade and economic cooperation and will help us implement a number of mutually beneficial economic projects,” he noted.

This is why Vladimir Makei asked the honorary consuls to actively promote and tap into another major uniting initiative of Belarus — the idea of partnering integration projects in the European space, the need for the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union to work together, the idea of a partnership between the Eurasian Economic Union and other integration bodies in other regions.

“At the junction of the Eurasian Economic Union and the European Union, Belarus advocates the formation of stable mechanisms for a full-value dialogue between these associations and more than that. Interlinking processes in the Eurasian Economic Union with the advancement of integration within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, ASEAN, the Silk Road Economic Belt, and other initiatives could result in considerable benefits for the realization of our interests. There are very many integration associations like that in Africa, Latin America, and other regions,” said the Belarusian minister of foreign affairs.

Speaking about the Eurasian Economic Union, Vladimir Makei asked the honorary consuls to promote the idea that it is necessary to cooperate with this organization in their countries. “What are the important points? The fact that Belarus and its partners have implemented this project within a record-breaking short amount of time. Today the Eurasian Economic Union is one of the largest integration associations. Despite some initial obvious teething problems the union is very advantageous and important for Belarus,” stated Vladimir Makei.