Opinions & Interviews

Kneissl: Belarus, Austria are located in the part of the world where black swan events happen

MINSK, 21 January (BelTA) - Belarus and Austria are located in the part of the world where ‘black swans’, rare and difficult to predicted high-impact events, happen, Austrian Minister for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs Karin Kneissl said in an interview with the ONT TV channel, BelTA has learned.

When asked about the reasons why Belarus and Austria have developed a relationship of trust, the minister noted the similarity of the two countries. “I think we are in a similar geographical situation. Both our countries are average-sized. We have had to be able to get up on our feet, be confident, show quality of work and independence,” Karin Kneissl said.

She spoke about her conversation with Belarus Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei. “We had a very interesting and fruitful conversation. We exchanged our views of the situation in Europe, our vision of the situation in the neighboring countries. I was interested in the views of the Belarusian colleague. We exchanged views on various topics which were of interest to each of the parties, such as the situation in Ukraine. Returning to the question of geography, which I have already mentioned, we are part of the world where, ‘black swan events’, as they describe this phenomenon in the economy, happen. We talked about the new ‘black swans’ which emerge on the horizon now and then,” the minister said. 

Karin Kneissl also inspected the progress in the development of the sculpture financed by Austria for the Trostenets memorial complex. “Federal President van der Bellen was here last year to comment the work on the monument which will be unveiled by Federal Chancellor Kurz,” she said. Karin Kneissl added that for her foreign policy is not only the economy, which is an essential part of it, but also the civil society.

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