Opinions & Interviews

Makei: Belarus would like EU to remain its important political, economic partner

Vladimir Makei and Edgars Rinkevics. Photos from the Twitter account of the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

MINSK, 24 July (BelTA) – Belarus would like the European Union to remain its important political and economic partner, Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei told reporters after the meeting with his Latvian counterpart on 24 July, BelTA has learned.

Vladimir Makei thanked Latvian Minister of Foreign Affairs Edgars Rinkevics for the opportunity to hold this meeting. According to him, he and his Latvian counterpart discussed a broad range of issues related to political and economic contacts, including contacts between Belarus and the EU.

“Belarus and Latvia have good cooperation prospects. Unfortunately, the pandemic has put on hold our political contacts and plans, but I am sure that we will be able to make up for it when the situation gets back to normalcy. We are interested in close cooperation in transport, logistics, transit, agriculture and high technology, absolutely all areas,” Vladimir Makei said.

The minister noted that there is a number of specific cooperation prospects that would take bilateral contacts to a brand-new level.

“We also discussed the cooperation between Belarus and the European Union. For us, the European Union is an important foreign policy and foreign economic partner. We would like the positive trend in the development of comprehensive cooperation with the European Union and its member states to remain in place," continued Vladimir Makei.

He also said that the talks included the issues of regional security and cooperation within the framework of the Eastern Partnership, which is also important for Belarus. He hailed the projects implemented in the Eastern Partnership as effective.

Vladimir Makei thanked his Latvian counterpart for an open and constructive dialogue. “It is only by using this approach that we can remove some concerns and decide how to move forward,” the Belarusian minister said.

As BelTA reported earlier, the Belarusian minister of foreign affairs is on a one-day working visit to Latvia on 24 July. Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko was expected to visit Latvia in April. However, due to the outbreak of coronavirus, the visit was postponed.

In March, Aleksandr Lukashenko and Latvian President Egils Levits had a telephone conversation at the initiative of the Latvian side. The heads of state discussed the main aspects of bilateral cooperation, mainly trade and economic cooperation. The neighboring countries are primarily interested in cargo transportation, energy transit, industrial cooperation.

At the end of June, Aleksandr Lukashenko congratulated Egils Levits on the 65th birthday. The president said he expects to continue working together to strengthen good-neighborly relations, which should be facilitated by the planned high-level contacts. “I hope that we will be able to meet in the hospitable Riga soon to discuss ways to deepen cooperation between Belarus and Latvia,” the Belarusian head of state stressed.

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