MINSK, 16 December (BelTA) - Belarus seeks possible ways to cooperate with the EU on the topic of illegal migration, Belarusian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Yuri Ambrazevich said as he addressed a meeting of the Advisory Council for Belarusians Abroad at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus, BelTA learned.
Yuri Ambrazevich noted that the issue of illegal migration, which was not so acute for Belarus before, tops the agenda now.
“One should live in peace with neighbors. Neighbors are given by God. We do not choose them. Therefore, we have been trying, calmly and persistently, to build relations with all neighbors along the perimeter of our state,” the deputy minister said.
“We publicly reached out to the European Union for cooperation on this topic. But this step was not appreciated by them. They refused to participate at all. Everybody, except for Hungary. We will continue to work to find possible ways of cooperation and to oppose groundless and unsubstantiated accusations in the so-called instrumentalization of illegal migration and its use against the countries of the European Union,” Yuri Ambrazevich said.
Yuri Ambrazevich noted that the issue of illegal migration, which was not so acute for Belarus before, tops the agenda now.
“One should live in peace with neighbors. Neighbors are given by God. We do not choose them. Therefore, we have been trying, calmly and persistently, to build relations with all neighbors along the perimeter of our state,” the deputy minister said.
He recalled that in order to encourage the closest EU countries to engage in dialogue in a spirit of openness Belarus initiated and held an international conference on combating illegal migration in November.
“We publicly reached out to the European Union for cooperation on this topic. But this step was not appreciated by them. They refused to participate at all. Everybody, except for Hungary. We will continue to work to find possible ways of cooperation and to oppose groundless and unsubstantiated accusations in the so-called instrumentalization of illegal migration and its use against the countries of the European Union,” Yuri Ambrazevich said.
Belarus is not the source of the problem and is ready to look for ways to solve it with partners, he added.
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