Events

MINSK, 1 June (BelTA) – Belarus and Belgium are interested in developing relations in the political, economic, humanitarian and cultural sectors. These topics were discussed at the meeting between Belarus’ Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei and Belgium’s Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Affairs Didier Reynders on 1 June, BelTA learned from the press service of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The two ministers discussed prospects of Belarusian-Belgian relations in the political, trade, economic, humanitarian and cultural sectors, and also considered the most important issues of regional security, cooperation areas within international organizations, Belarus-EU cooperation, situation in Europe and worldwide.

The ministers welcomed the agreement reached by the aviation authorities of the two states to increase the number of direct flights between the two countries up to five a week, and also create necessary conditions for cooperation in air cargo transportation and the implementation of up to five cargo flights by each side weekly.

After the talks Vladimir Makei informed his Belgian counterpart about Belarus’ decision to support Belgium as a non-permanent member to the UN Security Council for 2019-2020.

In Brussels, the Belarusian minister of foreign affairs also met with European Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Khan. The parties discussed the whole range of issues of practical cooperation between Belarus and the European Union in various sectoral areas, including trade, transport, energy, environmental protection, standardization, and international technical assistance. The parties also exchanged views on ways to further develop cooperation and make it more systematic in the context of negotiations on the Belarus-EU partnership priorities and Belarus' participation in the Eastern Partnership initiative.

The parties also discussed the preparations for the 10^th Informal Ministerial Eastern Partnership Dialogues on harmonization of digital markets, scheduled in Minsk on 21-22 June 2018.

As BelTA reported earlier, on 31 May Vladimir Makei met with Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Vice President of the European Commission. The parties shared views on EU-Belarus cooperation, activities following the Eastern Partnership summit held in Brussels in November 2017, and also discussed cooperation in nuclear safety issues, including the construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant in Ostrovets.

Federica Mogherini reaffirmed the European Union's committment to ensuring a stable future for Belarus for the benefit of its people and will continue to work with all the interested parties to achieve the goal.

While in Brussels, Vladimir Makei met with representatives of the world’s biggest mass media outlets, including Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg, and answered journalists’ questions.