Multilateral Cooperation

One of the areas of foreign policy of the Republic of Belarus is the participation in the work of universal and specialized, global and regional international organizations and integration groups.

International strategies helping to respond efficiently and mechanisms to handle pressing economic, social and political issues are needed to face new global challenges and threats arising in today’s age of economic globalization. Such strategies are currently being developed within the framework of multilateral cooperation. Not only does the Republic of Belarus participate in the United Nations, Non-Aligned Movement, and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Belarus has been developing cooperation with partners in the integration associations and organizations of the post-Soviet countries: CIS, EurAsEC and CSTO.

The Customs Union between Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia was set up recently on 1 January 2010. The success of this project became the basis for Member-States of the Customs Union to take a decision for moving to a deeper form of integration, the Unified Economic Space (CES). For these purposes 17 basic agreements of the legal framework of the new organization have been adopted.

The most important event for the future of the integration with the framework of the “Troika” took place on 18 November 2011 in Moscow, during the meeting between Presidents of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia. The Heads of States signed the Declaration of the Eurasian economic integration, the Treaty on the Eurasian economic Commission.

As it was originally defined by the Heads of States, the EEA came into existence on 1 January, 2012. The Member States shall ensure further specification of its work. To this end, in the medium term they shall develop 55 documents, 13 of which are the international treaties.

A need to mitigate the aftermath of the global economic crisis and launch structural financial reforms prompted more cooperation with the key economic and financial organizations such as the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, UN Economic Commission for Europe and UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

An imperative goal for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is to raise investments and bring in expertise of the specialized intergovernmental organizations to push forward social and economic growth in the Republic of Belarus.

The UN Development Assistance Framework Programme for the Republic of Belarus for 2011 – 2015 is a unique document signed in October 2010. It is a strategic cooperation plan for the collaboration between the government of the Republic of Belarus and all specialized UN institutions, funds and programmes working in Belarus. It provides for the $490m-worth of technical assistance projects due to be implemented in Belarus.

In terms of multilateral cooperation, it is noteworthy that Belarus co-operates with quite a few international organizations (EU, NATO, SCO, etc.) as a non-member and sends its delegations to multilateral international forums.