Opinions & Interviews

Belarus’ FM: Cooperation between EAEU, EU will help avoid new dividing lines in Europe

MINSK, 7 October (BelTA) - Cooperation between the Eurasian Economic Union and the European Union will help avoid new dividing lines in Europe, Belarus Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei said as he addressed the Minsk Dialogue Forum "European Security: Stepping Back from the Brink" in the Belarusian capital on 7 October, BelTA has learned.

“The alignment of the Eurasian Economic Union and the European Union will help avoid harmful competition of the integrations, the emergence of new dividing lines in Europe, and will help resolve the protracted local conflicts. Belarus, as a member of the Eurasian Economic Union, calls on the European Union to start a direct dialogue with the EAEU on a number of key areas of mutual interest, and they do exist. It is high time to take this dialogue beyond technical contacts between the European Commission and the Eurasian Economic Commission,” Vladimir Makei noted.

The minister also noted the “powerful yet not fully assessed potential” of the Belarusian initiative of partnership of the integration projects - the EAEU with the EU, SCO, ASEAN, the Silk Road Economic Belt, the integration associations in Latin America and Africa.

“Its essence is not limited to economic benefits from creating a common economic space from Lisbon to Vladivostok and further from Shanghai to Jakarta. Although these benefits look promising. It may be more important to demonstrate that the two integrations are not sworn rivals, that full cooperation between them is possible, that by acceding one of them you do not automatically become the enemy of the other,” the diploma emphasized.

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