MINSK, 8 July (BelTA) – Belarus has always been an advocate of direct and unmediated dialogue with all partners, including NATO, Maria Vanshina, deputy spokesperson for the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in response to media requests to comment on Poland's willingness to act as a mediator in the rapprochement between Belarus and NATO.
“If you are referring to the statement that Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Witold Waszczykowski made at a press conference in Warsaw on 8 July, as far as I know, he spoke about Poland's eagerness to act as a partner and mediator who would encourage Belarus to develop cooperation with NATO. First of all, Belarus has always been an advocate of direct and unmediated dialogue with all partners, including NATO, on the basis of its national interests and mutual respect,” Maria Vanshina said.
She noted that a key principle of Belarus' foreign policy is to maintain and further strengthen friendly and good-neighborly relations with all its neighboring countries. “We are open for further development of cooperation with Poland which, among other things, traditionally is one of Belarus' top ten trading partners and investors. As for the cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, there is no other alternative than to develop open and honest dialogue between all the parties concerned on our continent in the interests of peace and stability. We stand for constructive collaboration between NATO and Belarus, NATO and Russia, between all integration blocs (economic, military and political ones) to jointly respond to many regional security challenges,” Maria Vanshina noted.
“Still, I stress that Belarus unambiguously opposes fueling of military tensions in our region and is against new dividing lines in Europe,” the representative of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
