MINSK, 10 March (BelTA) - Minister of State for Europe at the German Federal Foreign Office Michael Roth is expected to visit Belarus, BelTA learned from the German embassy in Minsk.
The visit will mark 25 years of the re-establishment of the diplomatic relations between Germany and Belarus, which is celebrated on 13 March. Michael Roth is expected to meet with Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei. The program of the visit will include the opening of the joint mobile exhibition Trostenets Death Camp. History and Memory. From 1942 to 1944 Maly Trostenets was known as the Nazi's biggest death camp in the former Soviet Union.
The embassy stressed that the first diplomatic contacts between the former Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic and the German Empire were established in 1923. After gaining independence, Belarus re-established the diplomatic relations with Germany. On 13 March 1992 in Minsk German Minister of Foreign Affairs Hans-Dietrich Genscher signed the agreement of the re-establishment of the diplomatic relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of Belarus. A month later the first German Ambassador was accredited in Belarus. The first Belarusian Ambassador to Germany was accredited in December 1992. In April 1995 the Bundestag established the German-Belarusian parliamentary group.
For the last 25 years the relations between Belarus and the Federal Republic of Germany have developed considerably in many areas. This applies to areas of culture, education, science, economy, and also the cooperation with civil society, particularly in mitigating the Chernobyl impact in Belarus. After most European Union sanctions were lifted in February 2016 the political dialogue between the two countries has significantly intensified.
