MINSK, 14 July (BelTA) – Belarus does not seek membership in the European Union but wants to cooperate closely with it, Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei said in an interview to the Spanish media outlet El Pais. The Russian translation of the interview was posted on the website of Belarus' Ministry of Foreign Affairs, BelTA has learned.
“We do not seek EU membership but we want to take a more active part in the integration associations in the post-Soviet area, like the EAEU. At the same time we want to cooperate closely with the EU because it stimulates our economy. The economic growth will help us strengthen our sovereignty and political independence. We do not intend to upset relations with Russia, our main partner and ally. What we want is to diversify the economy,” the minister remarked.
“We want to set up joint ventures to produce goods that would be considered Belarus-made and could be exported to other EAEU countries,” the minister highlighted. According to Vladimir Makei, some Spanish companies have been showing a strong interest. In general, the minister noted that Belarus' image in the West has been improving and today the country is in a totally different situation.
Vladimir Makei stressed that on the outside this situation can be described by the deteriorating relations and emerging controversies between the two Slavonic neighbors of Belarus. On the inside, this is about positive changes that helped Belarus reach a new level of relations with the EU. “Our independence has been strengthened thanks to our effort to expand trade and humanitarian cooperation with Europe and the U.S.,” Vladimir Makei underlined.
“Belarus has many trademarks: partnership with Russia within the framework of the Belarus-Russia Union State; membership in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) together with Russia, Kazakhstan, Armenia, and Kyrgyzstan; participation in NATO's Partnership for Peace program and the Eastern Partnership with the EU; membership in the Collective Security Treaty Organization together with Russia and other post-Soviet states and in the Non-Aligned Movement. According to the minister, the Eastern Partnership and the EAEU are ‘compatible, and moreover, we would like the EAEU and the EU to have stronger relations'. He believes that rapprochement is necessary and it will come sooner or later. “If it is impossible now, it is only because the level of mistrust between the East and the West is huge due to the crisis in Ukraine,” the interview reads.
