MINSK, 19 May (BelTA) – An online high-level conference will take place on 20 May to discuss ways to use the potential of interregional integration for the sake of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. The conference is organized by Belarus, Barbados, and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the press service of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told BelTA.
The conference has been organized in pursuit of the integration of integrations initiative put forward by Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko. The initiative provides for building up mutually beneficial horizontal cooperation between regional interstate economic unions and associations.
Tighter cooperation between regions of the world will help reduce interstate confrontations, avoid the emergence of new dividing lines and the application of illegitimate unilateral measures. Regional unions would be able to share the experience of resolution of pressing economic and social problems. They will be able to use each other's cutting-edge practices and team up to implement joint projects. A dialogue in this field would contribute to a better coordinated economic policy of countries and their associations. It will ultimately help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and raise everyone's wellbeing.
Friends and partners from Europe, Asia, Africa, and America have responded favorably to Belarus' initiative.
Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Barbados Jerome Walcott, and Russian Federation Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov will make speeches during the opening ceremony.
Director General of the UN Office in Geneva Tatiana Valovaya, WTO Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission Mikhail Myasnikovich, Secretary General of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) Henri Getaz, ASEAN Secretary General Lim Jock Hoi, UNCTAD Acting Secretary General Isabelle Durant, WIPO Director General Daren Tang, executive secretaries of all the five regional economic commissions of the United Nations Organization, high-level representatives from Argentina, the Andean Community of Nations (ACN), and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) will also take part in the conference.
The event will be classified as a preparatory event for the 15th UNCTAD ministerial conference. Results of the interregional integration conference will be used in negotiations on defining UNCTAD's mandate for the next four-year period. The interregional integration conference is expected to help launch a multilateral dialogue, which will be developed later not only during the 15th UNCTAD ministerial conference but during sessions of the UN General Assembly, the 7th World Investment Forum, and other platforms.
Anyone can attend the forum by going to the YouTube channel of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A direct broadcast will be available there.
