Statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus with regard to the NATO decision to limit the level of representation of the Republic of Belarus at the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council Meeting

On 3 April 2008, Bucharest will host a Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) Meeting at the level of Heads of States/Governments.

The Republic of Belarus was informed that NATO had decided to limit the level of Belarus’ representation at the forthcoming EAPC Meeting.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus believes that the NATO decision to limit the level of representation of the Partner State delegation at the EAPC Summit is unacceptable. 

This decision contradicts the Basic Document of the EAPC adopted in 1997 in Sintra. The EAPC was established as a collective forum for consultations on a wide spectrum of security issues. All State Parties possess equal rights and share equal responsibility for the maintenance and strengthening of peace and stability in the Euro-Atlantic region.

In this respect, based on the matter of principle, the Republic of Belarus has been forced to refuse to participate in the Bucharest EAPC Summit.

As an EAPC member state, the Republic of Belarus has always pursued a consistent and responsible policy in developing cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in the interests of safeguarding European and international security, non-proliferation and arms control regimes, military and political confidence building measures in the OSCE region.

Belarus will never decline its responsibility for the maintenance and strengthening of regional, European and international security, while emphasizing that its cooperation with the Alliance for the said purposes will only be efficient on the equal, pragmatic and mutually respectful basis in accordance with the Basic Document of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council.

                                                                   Minsk, 2 April 2008