26th Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Minsk

MINSK, 8 July (BelTA) – The Belarusian delegation believes that the resolution on the state of affairs in Eastern Europe is unconstructive and confrontational. Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus Boleslav Pirshtuk made the statement during the session of the General Committee on Democracy, Human Rights, and Humanitarian Questions as part of the 26^th session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE PA) in Minsk on 8 July, BelTA has learned.

In particular, Boleslav Pirshtuk noted that the Belarusian delegation views the draft resolution as unacceptable and the resolution itself as unconstructive and confrontational. According to the deputy head of the lower chamber of the Belarusian parliament, in order to achieve the desired result, it is important to fill the agenda of the session with matters of uniting nature instead of disuniting ones. “Most of the additional points on the agenda are dedicated to genuinely important matters of pressing interest for everyone. Unfortunately, we cannot say that the draft resolution on the state of affairs in Eastern Europe is either constructive or uniting,” said Boleslav Pirshtuk.

The Belarusian MP noted that Belarus shares the view of the Russian delegation that such resolutions create an ambience of confrontation that fail to further a fruitful dialogue and cooperation within the framework of the assembly. “The title of the resolution, which aspires to present a comprehensive analysis of the situation in the Eastern Europe region, fails to correspond with its content. In our opinion, the document is selective, biased, and nonobjective. It completely ignores the positive changes that have happened in Belarus in the last few years. The fact that Minsk hosts the annual session with virtually all the people, who wanted to participate, participating in the event is a vivid confirmation of our openness,” stressed Boleslav Pirshtuk.

In his words, when making the proposal to host the annual OSCE PA session, Belarus was genuinely eager to make a contribution to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s efforts to advance a dialogue of parliamentarians for the sake of establishing trust in relations between the OSCE member states. “Bearing these considerations in mind, we suggested the common theme of the session — ‘Enhancing mutual trust and cooperation for peace and prosperity in the OSCE region’. Our proposals were supported. We are grateful to the OSCE PA leadership and delegates of other member states for it. We are doing everything possible for the effective organization of the session,” added Boleslav Pirshtuk.

The 26^th summer session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe is taking place in Minsk on 5-9 July.