Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 2 October (BelTA) - The world needs a new format of international relations, Belarus’ Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei said at a plenary session of the 73^rd UN General Assembly in New York on 2 October, BelTA learned from the press service of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The 73^rd UNGA session marked the 100^th birthday of outstanding state and political figure, former RSA President Nelson Mandela. Vladimir Makei focused on the inadmissibility of neglecting the ideals and principles that Nelson Mandela supported, and stressed that the world today needs a new format of international relations taking into the account the current situation and which will act as a model for solving complex problems.

The meeting was attended by the heads of state, government and foreign ministers of more than 130 countries.

At the UN headquarters, the Belarusian minister of foreign affairs held a meeting with Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces, President-elect of the 73^rd session of the UN General Assembly. The minister shared the initiatives that Belarus plans to promote at the current session. He informed her on the regional forum held in Belarus to discuss the implementation of the Agenda 2030 and asked her to support the idea of ​​developing a database in the UN on national SDG coordinators. The UNGA chairperson praised Belarus’ role in the fight against human trafficking and encouraged Belarus to continue developing this topic on the international agenda. The parties discussed the ways to support middle-income countries in the UN, and also the forthcoming meeting in support of middle-income countries which is due to take place in the UN headquarters on 4 December 2018 on Belarus’ initiative.

The Belarusian minister of foreign affairs also met with his Sudanese counterpart Al Dirdiri Mohamed Ahmed to discuss the development of trade and economic cooperation with an emphasis on the need to set up joint ventures in Sudan and agreed to hold an inventory of bilateral documents, the implementation of which will contribute to bringing relations to a new level.

Vladimir Makei held a meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al Muallem to talk over topical issues of bilateral cooperation. The parties confirmed the interest in developing cooperation in the trade and economic sector, medicine and education and agreed to hold a regular meeting of the intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation before the end of 2018. Walid al Muallem thanked Belarus for humanitarian aid and the opportunity for Syrian children to have recuperation holidays in Belarus.

In a bilateral meeting, Vladimir Makei and Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Rashid Meredov emphasized the parties’ commitment to active work on interaction in various areas of mutual interest.