Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 5 November (BelTA) – For many years Minsk has demonstrated its commitment to peaceful settlement of conflicts. Coupled with its geographical position, this makes it an important place in international diplomacy, the Munich Security Conference chief Wolfgang Ischinger said in an interview with the Belarus 1 TV channel, BelTA informs.

According to Wolfgang Ischinger, the decision to hold the Munich Security Conference Core Group Meeting in Minsk was the right one. “We need to pay more attention to the states located between the West and the East. Some of them are post-Soviet, not members of the Nato, the European Union. Representatives of many were present here. Among the speakers were the Armenia president, the deputy minister of foreign affairs of Georgia and the prime minister of Moldova. These are the countries whose security we all pay little attention sometimes. Both East and West. Therefore I realized that Minsk was a great idea. I am glad that this turned out to be right,” Wolfgang Ischinger said.

He stressed that the meeting in the Belarusian capital was focused on foreign policy, defense, international security. “Minsk became a hub of international diplomacy. The Minsk group to find a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has been working for two decades. The group on conflict settlement in the Donbass has been operating for several years. Belarus and Minsk have become a very important place in terms of international diplomacy,” said Wolfgang Ischinger.

He said that he was impressed by the speech of President Alexander Lukashenko, his honesty and sincerity, and also the proposals to take advantage of Belarus’ opportunities in resolving the situation in Donbass with international participation.

Wolfgang Ischinger described the Minsk agreements as the only tool and basis for the work in this direction. “We have not yet reached progress on this basis, however. This is a question for us, diplomats, whether we can change something in the format, approaches, attitude, whether it will help achieve progress. I think that since we are discussing the issue of the UN peacekeeping mission in the Donbass it will make sense to involve permanent members of the UN Security Council in our discussions (in addition to the Minsk and Normandy formats),” added the chairman of the Munich Security Conference.