Opinions & Interviews

Ambassador: Interest of German business in Belarus growing

MINSK, 13 May (BelTA) – The interest of German business in Belarus is growing, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Germany to Belarus Peter Dettmar told the media on 13 May, BelTA has learned.

Some visits to Belarus are being planned and this shows that the German business is interested in developing contacts with the country. According to the ambassador, Belarus expects to welcome representatives of the German Association of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses which unites more than 55,000 German companies and represents the interests of about 10 million workers. The state secretary of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy of Germany is also expected to come. They are set to hold talks at the level of ministries, business communities and visit the Great Stone Park. “As you can see, we are doing our best to develop our trade and economic relations,” the ambassador said.

According to Ambassador Peter Dettmar, the political, economic and cultural relations between Germany and Belarus have significantly improved over the past three years. “We got this positive momentum only thanks to close cooperation with the Belarusian government. I hope it will continue developing in the future,” he said.

In his words, Belarus is “still not visible enough in Europe, the European Union and some EU countries, including Germany”. However, Germany’s attitude to Belarus has considerably changed and the essence of those changes was formulated by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier during his visit to the Trostenets Memorial in June 2018. “He said that it was high time to look at the Republic of Belarus as a sovereign state with its own past, present and future. This is the message which the government and embassy of Germany navigate by in the development of comprehensive relations with Belarus,” Ambassador Peter Dettmar said. He added that Germany advocated the abolition of the majority of anti-Belarusian sanctions imposed by the European Union in 2011 and lifted in 2016.

Ambassador Peter Dettmar is completing his diplomatic mission in Belarus after eight years and also his diplomatic career as the ambassador. He is expected to retire in July 2019. On 13 May, the diplomat met with Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko. “For me the meeting with the president was very important. I expressed my gratitude for the support he provided to the German embassy and me over all those years,” the ambassador said.

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