MINSK, 22 October (BelTA) – The partnership priorities between Belarus and the European Union might be signed by the end of 2018, Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei has told the ONT TV channel, BelTA has learned.
“Unfortunately, our partners have recently put forward some additions that we need to study, therefore now corresponding intrastate procedures are underway to scrutinize this document. I think we will work out our position on it and there is hope that the document will be signed by the end of the year,” Vladimir Makei said.
The Belarusian foreign minister took part in the meeting of ministers of foreign affairs of the Eastern Partnership member states and the EU in Luxembourg on 15 October. On the sidelines of the event he held talks with Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn.
“We discussed the entire spectrum of matters related to our cooperation with the European Union, including the signing of the partnership priorities anytime soon. These partnership priorities set forth our cooperation program for the near future,” the foreign minister told reporters following the meeting.
On 18 October Vladimir Makei informed Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko about the results of the Luxembourg talks.
“The president was informed about the work to elaborate joint documents with the European Union. These are documents on the partnership priorities, agreements on visa facilitation and readmission. All in all, considerable progress has been achieved on all of them. However, some new circumstances emerge every now and then through no fault of ours; it takes time to analyze and specify them and make decisions,” the minister noted.
In his words, Belarus will keep working on these documents bearing in mind national interests. “There is a clear position of the head of state to keep normalizing relations with the European Union, first of all, economic, political and humanitarian contacts,” the diplomat noted.
