MINSK, 20 May (BelTA) – Belarus is calling on the European Union to embark on talks to sign the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, Belarus Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Oleg Kravchenko said at the Lennart Meri Conference in Tallinn. Oleg Kravchenko was one of the speakers at the panel session “The Art of Balance: Will Belarus Endure?”, BelTA learned from the press service of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Taking into consideration Belarus' participation in a number of strategic cooperation projects with Russia and international regional organizations in Eurasia, Oleg Kravchenko challenged the assumption about the balancing act that provides for equal volumes of cooperation or establishment of counter-alliances. He emphasized Belarus' interest in fully restoring contacts with the European Union, which is Belarus' second biggest trading partner. He urged the European side to embark on talks to sign the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement. The EU signed this agreement with all the neighboring states except for Belarus,” the ministry informed.
Oleg Kravchenko criticized politicized efforts to set off the Eurasian Economic Union and the European Union, as well as the recent trend to analyze the positions and interests of Belarus and comparable countries of the region exclusively through the prism of confrontation between the east and west. He presented Belarus' stance on a number of topical issues of the international agenda, including the mounting tensions in Europe.
Taking part in the Lennart Meri Conference were the presidents of Estonia and Georgia, defense ministers of Germany, Estonia, Sweden and Latvia, ministers of foreign affairs of Slovakia and North Macedonia, the Minister of State for EU Policies at the Prime Minister's Office of Hungary, representatives of leading think tanks from the United States, a number of European countries, and Russia.
