MINSK, 9 March (BelTA) – The Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs will host a working meeting of the deputy ministers of foreign affairs of the Visegrad Group (V4: Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic) and Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries on 15 March, spokesman for the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dmitry Mironchik told a press briefing on 9 March, BelTA has learned.
The meeting will consider matters related to the interaction among the V4 and EaP countries in the areas of mutual interest, and also discuss prospects for the development of the European Union's Eastern Partnership initiative.
“As you know, the European Union outlined general guidelines for the cooperation with its neighboring countries in the Review of the European Neighborhood Policy released on 18 November 2015. The document indicates clearly that the partner states pursue different goals in their interaction with the European Union. It emphasizes that the European neighborhood policy should reflect not only the interests of the EU, but also those of the partner countries,” Dmitry Mironchik emphasized.
He noted that the review in fact reflects the points that Belarus has been consistently upholding in the negotiations with the European Union in recent years. This means that a foundation has been created for cooperation that allows for determining the final goals through an equal dialogue, bearing in mind the commitments within other integration associations.
