Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 2 November (BelTA) – The Justice Ministry of Belarus hopes to expand cooperation with the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in providing international legal assistance. The relevant information was posted on the website of the ministry after Justice Minister Oleg Slizhevsky took part in the fourth meeting of the Justice Ministers of the SCO Member States in Kazakhstan, BelTA has learned.

The participants of the meeting considered issues related to the activity of the Justice Ministries such as legislation forecasting and planning, enhancement of legal literacy, the activity related to providing legal services, and also the development of cooperation between the SCO member states in providing international civil and criminal legal assistance.

As far as the cooperation in providing civil and criminal legal assistance is concerned, Belarus has developed an efficient multilateral and (or) bilateral international legal framework with the SCO member states, the majority of the SCO observers and dialogue partner states. During the fourth meeting Belarus voiced the need for further expansion of cooperation in providing international legal assistance.

Belarus also took note of the SCO’s big potential in improving the national legislation of each of its member state. The participants of the meeting were apprised of the recent reforms in the corresponding fields. It was noted that a special emphasis should be placed on developing respect to laws in what concerns the issue of enhancing legal literacy.

A number of informal bilateral meetings were held as part of the session. Afghanistan, in particular, expressed interest in developing bilateral cooperation with Belarus in providing mutual international legal assistance.

In November 2016 a delegation from Tajikistan is expected to visit Belarus to study the country’s enforcement system.