Events

Work on Belarus president’s visit to Austria in progress

Aloisia Worgetter. Archive photo

MINSK, 23 October (BelTA) – Details of the visit of Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko to Austria in November 2019 are still being discussed and will be published later, BelTA learned from Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Austria to Belarus Aloisia Worgetter.

The ambassador said that the Austrian president had officially invited Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko to visit Vienna in November 2019. “Details of the visit are still being discussed. The general public will be informed about them later,” she said.

The ambassador noted that Belarus-Austria cooperation has been advancing particularly dynamically this year. In particular, Federal President of Austria Alexander Van der Bellen, Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs Karin Kneissl, and the then Chancellor of Austria Sebastian Kurz visited Belarus. “As an ambassador I was in a very unusual situation: I’ve had the honor of organizing three high-level visits over the course of one year,” Aloisia Worgetter said. Besides, the embassy moved into a new place in late 2018 and hired more personnel.

“High-level contacts help foster openness, communication, readiness for a dialogue at a working, operational level, too,” she continued. “Multiple visits of various levels between our countries took place last year. So a very cordial exchange that will benefit both sides is evolving at all levels.”

More vigorous cooperation is reflected by trade figures. “In H1 2019 export from Austria totaled €50 million, with import at about €10 million. On the whole, trade increased by 15% [from the same period of last year], which allows us to expect good dynamics in 2019,” the ambassador noted. She reminded that Belarus-Austria trade was close to €250 million in 2018.

Asked what European politicians think about the Belarusian parliament election campaign, the diplomat noted that an OSCE long-term observation mission is working in the country. It includes Austrian citizens, too. Short-term observers will join them later on. “We’ve received detailed information about the entire procedure of the election campaign and its progress from the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Belarus,” the head of the diplomatic mission noted. “We’ve met with the head of the OSCE observation mission. We wish the elections in Belarus to be a success.”

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