MINSK, 11 April (BelTA) – As a good neighbor and a friendly country Belarus makes every effort to establish peaceful life in Ukraine's east. The Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs made the statement as an answer to the questions submitted ahead of the Big Conversation with the President, BelTA has learned.
One of the questions was about ways of stopping the civil war in Donbass. In response the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs underlined that it is up to Ukraine's leadership and Ukrainian people to decide on the state structure of their country.
“In turn, as a good neighbor and a friendly country Belarus makes every effort to establish peaceful life in Ukraine's east,” the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted. Since 2014 Minsk has been a venue for negotiations on resolving the situation in Ukraine's east and a venue for consultations of the trilateral contact group on Ukraine. In June 2017 and in June 2018 with assistance of the International Committee of the Red Cross Belarus provided humanitarian aid to Ukrainian citizens in the Donbass conflict area on both sides of the contact line.
“The Republic of Belarus advocates a peaceful resolution of the conflict and the cessation of violence, prevention of armed clashes, and the observance of the Minsk agreements by the sides. The Minsk agreements remain the only effective foundation for resolving the crisis,” the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed.
Belarus and Ukraine enjoy a mutually beneficial partnership. In 2018 Ukraine was Belarus' second largest trade partner in terms of the volume of trade and export and fourth largest in terms of import. The presidents and the governments maintain an active dialogue. Regular sessions of the Belarus-Ukraine commission on trade and economic cooperation take place as well as industry-specific working groups, the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs added.
The 1st Forum of Regions of Belarus and Ukraine took place in Gomel on 25-26 October 2018 in compliance with top-level agreements. Work is in progress to arrange the second forum in Ukrainian Zhitomir in autumn. Priority avenues of cooperation in trade and economy include manufacturing cooperation, agriculture, implementation of petrochemical industry projects, including the provision of maintenance services to Ukrainian oil and gas extracting companies as well as participation in Ukrainian infrastructure modernization programs.
