Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 24 July (BelTA) - The dialogue, which is now developing between Belarus and the European Union, is in the interests of both parties, Belarus’ Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei told the media during an official visit to Slovenia, BelTA learned from the press service of the ministry.

“We thanked our Slovene friends for the pragmatic, objective position that the country took in the matter of lifting sanctions against Belarus. The dialogue, which is now developing between Belarus and the European Union, is in the interest of our country and in the interest of the European Union. We agreed that it is necessary to maintain this principle of the further dialogue,” Vladimir Makei said.

According to him, during the visit to Slovenia the parties also discussed the prospects for Belarus' further participation in the Eastern Partnership initiative, which the country considers to be very important in the context of approximating its standards with the EU standards at many levels and in various areas.

“We discussed specific areas of trade and economic cooperation between the two countries,” the minister said. “I think that the potential for trade and economic cooperation between our countries is far from being used. We intend to make every effort to increase the trade between our countries,” he noted.

The diplomat thanked the Slovenian side for the cooperation in the humanitarian area and for hosting Belarusian children from the Chernobyl-hit areas for recuperation. “For us, this is a very important area of interaction in purely human terms,” the minister noted.