Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus O.Kravchenko visits France

23 May 2019

23-05-2019

On May 20-22, 2019 the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus, Oleg Kravchenko visited France.

During the visit, O.Kravchenko held meetings at the French Foreign Ministry. Issues of Belarusian-French economic cooperation were discussed at the meeting with the Secretary of State, Jean Baptiste Lemoyne.

Particular attention was paid to the implementation of the protocol of the third meeting of the Joint Economic Commission (Minsk, October 26, 2018), of which they are co-chairs. Implementation of investment projects in Belarus involving French companies and prospects for expanding contacts between businesses of both countries were reviewed. O.Kravchenko and J-B.Lemoyne also exchanged their views on current issues of the international agenda and regional security.

During the meeting with the Deputy Director General for Political Affairs and Security, Eric Danon, prospects for development of multilateral cooperation, relations between Belarus and the European Union, including within the Eastern Partnership, as well as international and regional security issues were considered.

Bilateral interaction was discussed in detail in the framework of the Belarusian-French political consultations with the participation of the delegations led by O.Kravchenko and the Deputy Director of the Department of Continental Europe, Nicolas de Lacoste.

The parties also agreed on steps aimed at intensifying bilateral dialogue in the field of politics, culture and education.

On the same day, O.Kravchenko held a joint meeting with the delegations of foreign ministries of Germany and France, at which the prospects for the development of trilateral interaction, the Belarus-EU dialogue, the current situation in the region, as well as the most topical issues of the international agenda were discussed.

The French delegation was headed by Nicolas de Lacoste, the German delegation – by the German Foreign Ministry’s Commissioner for Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia, Michael Siebert, with whom the Deputy Foreign Minister of Belarus also discussed issues of Belarusian-German cooperation.

O.Kravchenko discussed the Belarusian-French cooperation on security issues with the Director of the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Defense of France, Alice Gitton.

On May 21 a seminar on Belarus was organized at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI).

During his speech at the seminar, O.Kravchenko delivered a detailed presentation on priorities of Belarus’ foreign and domestic policy, including in the context of current geopolitical processes, as well as on the role of Belarus in strengthening regional security.

The event was attended by the representatives of the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Defense of France, the French Parliament, political researchers, representatives of think tanks, business community and leading French media.

O.Kravchenko also discussed the situation in the European region and relations of Belarus with leading international partners at the meeting with the IFRI Director, Tomas Gomart.

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