Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 13 July (BelTA) – France has always been an important partner for Belarus in the European region and worldwide, Belarus’ Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Oleg Kravchenko said at a function to mark France’s national holiday on 13 July, BelTA informs.

According to Oleg Kravchenko, Belarus and France have a centuries-old base of bilateral relations, despite the fact that the history of contacts as sovereign states amounts to just over 25 years. France has always been present in Belarus, while Belarus in turn has made an important contribution to the cultural development of France through such names as Chagall, Soutine, Lyubich, Bakst and others.

“In January 2018 Belarus and France marked 26 years of diplomatic relations. Over the time the two countries had a lot of different and sometimes difficult moments. However, the dialogue between our countries has never stopped. Today we are proud of the fact that our bilateral relations have reached the level of trust that allows us to conduct an open dialogue on all the issues, even the most complicated ones. We have been able to establish firm political and economic ties. The two countries have been successfully developing the dialogue between the ministries of foreign affairs and parliaments. There is a joint intergovernmental economic commission which plans to hold its next session in October. Businessmen of the two countries are actively cooperating during business visits and joint forums,” said Oleg Kravchenko.

The deputy minister expressed confidence that the potential of the Belarusian-French cooperation is still hugely untapped.