Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus Y.Ambrazevich participates in the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development

On July 15-16, 2024 at the UN headquarters in New York, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, Yuri Ambrazevich, took part in the Ministerial segment of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development of the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

Foreign delegations from more than 160 countries participated personally in the event, about 85 countries were represented at the level of Heads of Government, Ministers and Deputy Ministers.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus made a national statement during the general discussion. Yuri Ambrazevich emphasized the primary role of the Government and a strong state in achieving sustainable development, drawing attention to Belarus' progress in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals, and offered cooperation and exchange of experience to the interested parties. He noted the political will to preserve peace in the Belarusian land, to ensure internal unity, and form an effective national architecture for managing development work.

The Deputy Minister said that the world today needs a broad international dialogue to strengthen confidence, security and cooperation measures. He also drew attention to the fact that only by uniting it is possible to resist any crises and challenges, attempts by the political elites of some Western countries to unfairly exploit their historical advantages, use illegal unilateral sanctions and other methods of neo-colonial policy.

Based on the 30-year experience of the institute of presidential power in Belarus, he said that the world today needs strong and responsible leaders who are able to strategically plan the future development of their countries. During the general discussion of the Forum, Yuri Ambrazevich also made a statement on behalf of the 30 Member States of the Group of Friends of the Family, presenting the approaches of like-minded people to family and demographic policy and emphasizing the importance of the institution of the traditional family for the sustainable development of society.

The Member States of the Group drew attention to the fact that the implementation of family-oriented public policy has proven its effectiveness in many areas of socio-economic development and called on the UN to take into account the interests of the institution of the family when elaborating on development programs for the period up to and after 2030.

The Deputy Minister took over the functions of moderator of the side-event organized by Belarus, Russia and the Eurasian Economic Commission on the topic «Regional partnerships in support of the SDGs: the case of the EAEU and other initiatives in Eurasia». Yuri Ambrazevich stressed that the Eurasian Economic Union is an effective and flexible mechanism for countering growing global problems, including the degradation of the world economy, poverty, climate change, and resource depletion. Its further harmonious development, modernization of the economy and ensuring macroeconomic stability will help solve the problems of inequality, strengthen social development and improve living standards.

He stressed that regional integration has become one of the main factors that have allowed Belarus to resist unilateral coercive measures imposed on the Belarusian state by Western countries. 

He noted the potential of cooperation between regional associations, the so-called «integration of integrations», to ensure sustainable development.

The Deputy Minister took part in the open debate of the UN Security Council on the topic «Maintenance of international peace and security: multilateral cooperation in the interests of a more just, democratic and sustainable world order», during which he noted the degradation of the international security system, the increase in tension in international affairs, as well as the lack of trust resulting from the persistent desire of Western states to hold the moment unilateral hegemony, taking advantage of the dominant position in the economy. In his speech, Yuri Ambrazevich emphasized the missed opportunity of the West to lead multilateralism «as a true leader could do, but tried to maximize his advantages to exploit others».

The Deputy head of the Foreign Ministry noted that Poland's unwillingness to cooperate in line with legal instruments to resolve the migration crisis, Lithuania's purposeful ban on transit of Belarusian fertilizers, the European Union's refusal to maintain air communication with Belarus are only an incomplete list of actions directed not only against Belarus, but also against the interests of many other countries, against multilateral cooperation.

Emphasizing Belarus' focus on a unifying agenda, Yuri Ambrazevich recalled the initiative put forward by our country last year in Minsk during the international conference «Eurasian Security: Reality and Prospects in a Transforming World» on the development of the Eurasian Charter of Diversity and Multipolarity in the 21st century, designed to formulate the parameters and principles of the functioning of the security architecture, as well as a strategic vision of multipolarity and the multilateralism of the updated system of international relations in Eurasia and, possibly, throughout the world.

On the sidelines of the Political Forum on Sustainable Development, the Deputy Minister held a number of bilateral meetings with representatives of the leadership of the UN Secretariat.

The Deputy Minister also had a meeting with the UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs H.E. Mr. Li Junhua.

During the meeting, issues of Belarus' implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the context of unilateral economic measures by Western states were discussed. The main results of the second National Forum on Sustainable Development, held on June 19, 2024 in Minsk, are outlined. An agreement was reached with the Deputy Secretary General to work out his visit to Belarus in 2025.

During a meeting with the UN Assistant Secretary–General for Human Rights, Head of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in New York, Ilze Brands Keris, the interlocutor was given a joint report by the foreign ministries of Belarus and Russia on human rights violations in individual countries, designed to draw attention to the challenges and threats faced by the international community in in the field of human rights, and confirming that there are no ideal countries in terms of respect for human rights.

The topics of cooperation with the United Nations, its representatives and mechanisms in the field of human rights were touched upon, and prospects for Belarus' cooperation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights were discussed.

The prospects of cooperation between Belarus and UNDP, including within the framework of the UNDP country program for Belarus for the period 2021-2025, were discussed at a meeting with the Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations, Deputy Administrator of UNDP – Director of the UNDP Regional Office for Europe and the CIS, Ivana Živković. Special attention was paid to the issue of increasing the UNDP project activities for Belarus and the development of a new country program for the next five-year period.

During the meeting with the Director of the Europe and Central Asia Division of the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Ms. Kayoko Goto, the Deputy Minister handed over letters from Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus M.Ryzhenkov addressed to the UN Secretary-General A.Guterres and the President-Elect of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly F.Yang with an invitation to participate in the Second International Conference on Eurasian security, which will be held in Minsk in the autumn of 2024. The interlocutors touched upon issues of cooperation between Belarus and the United Nations, including the upcoming work on a new Framework Program for Cooperation for 2026-2030.

At meetings with officials of the UN Secretariat, words of support were addressed to Belarus for its exemplary efforts to implement the SDGs and ensure the central role of the Government in this process. 

On the sidelines of the HLPF, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs also held meetings with the heads of delegations of Brazil, the DRC, Qatar, Mozambique, Saudi Arabia, Uganda to discuss issues on the bilateral agenda, primarily trade and economic cooperation.

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