On the Participation of Mr.Vladimir Makei, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus, in the Eastern Partnership Informal Ministerial Meeting

13-09-2013

On September 12-13, 2013 Mr.Vladimir Makei, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus, took part in the meeting of foreign ministers of the Eastern Partnership countries, which was held in Yerevan, Armenia within the third round of the EaP informal ministerial dialogues.



The participants focused on the preparation for the third Eastern Partnership Summit scheduled for 28 – 29 November 2013 in Vilnius, and on further development of this regional initiative.



Speaking at the plenary discussion, Mr. Vladimir Makei laid out the fundamental approaches of the Republic of Belarus towards the cooperation under the Eastern Partnership as well as the Belarusian expectations with regard to the Vilnius Summit. In particular, he stressed the importance of strict adherence to the principle of equality of the Eastern Partnership countries and the need to raise the EaP efficiency through, inter alia, strengthening the business dimension and project interaction in transport, trade, energy, and border management. Mr. Vladimir Makei presented a number of Belarusian initiatives aimed at raising the Partnership efficiency.



Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus made a special emphasis on the need to avoid creation of new dividing lines in the region as a result of the EaP implementation, and to develop a dialogue and interaction between the two key integration formations in Europe – Customs Union/Common Economic Space and European Union. In this regard, Mr. Vladimir Makei reminded of the initiative of President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko on ‘integration of integrations’.

While in Yerevan, Mr. Vladimir Makei met with Mr. Edward Nalbandian, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, heads of the delegations of the other partner countries as well as the Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Štephan Füle and Deputy Secretary General of the European External Action Service Helga Schmid. The parties discussed a wide range of issues of bilateral and multilateral cooperation. 

In particular, the Foreign Ministers of Belarus and Armenia exchanged views on ways to intensify the political, trade and economic cooperation between the two countries, including the implementation of the decisions and instructions which were given by the Heads of State of Belarus and Armenia following the visit by Mr. Alexander Lukashenko, President of the Republic of Belarus, to Armenia in May 2013. The parties also discussed the interaction between the two countries at some international organizations, first of all, at the United Nations.

Heads of the delegations of the EaP partner countries were received by Mr. Serzh Sargsyan, President of Armenia, and Mr. Tigran Sargsyan, Prime Minister of Armenia.

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