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Hope for constructive attitude to Belarusian nuclear power plant after election in Lithuania

BRUSSELS, 14 May (BelTA) – Belarus hopes for a constructive attitude of the Lithuanian government towards the Belarusian nuclear power plant after the presidential election in Lithuania is over. Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei made the relevant statement during the high-level conference held on 14 May on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the European Union’s Eastern Partnership Initiative (EaP), BelTA has learned.

Vladimir Makei said: “We hope that after the presidential election in the neighboring country, their stance may change in favor of more a more constructive attitude.”

Lithuania’s stance on the Belarusian nuclear power plant interferes with the signing of Belarus-EU partnership priorities. It is the only hindrance standing in the way of signing the document. “We would like to move towards the European Union in some matters but we cannot do it due to the circumstances caused by views of one country. One country actually holds the entire European Union hostage,” Vladimir Makei noted. “We believe it is bad when we cannot sign the agreement on partnership priorities due to the stance of one country, an absolutely artificial and unsubstantiated stance at that.”

Vladimir Makei stressed that Belarus is calm about the situation and is intent on continuing the dialogue. “Moreover, our conscience is clear. As far as the construction of the nuclear power plant in Belarus is concerned, we are absolutely transparent. We openly work the IAEA. We’ve invited and will invite a number of IAEA missions,” the diplomat pointed out.

Belarus has voluntarily performed stress tests and worked out the relevant national plan in line with the resulting recommendations. “In other words, we are ready to openly work on all the artificial issues our neighbors are worried about,” he added.

While speaking about the signing of agreements with the European Union earlier, Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei expressed incomprehension about why the partnership priorities had not been signed yet. The Belarusian side expects that the other documents – the agreement on facilitating visa procedures and the agreement on readmission – will be signed by the end of the year.

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