MINSK, 7 July (BelTA) - The West was wary of Belarus' delegation and what it had to say, Andrei Savinykh, the Chairman of the Standing Commission on International Affairs of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly, head of Belarus' parliamentary delegation to OSCE PA, told reporters commenting on the results of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's 29th Annual Session in Birmingham, the UK, BelTA has learned.
"The 29th session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly ended yesterday with the Birmingham Declaration. In this context, we would like to draw attention to several important circumstances that accompanied this event. The 29th session was held without Russian and Belarusian delegations," Andrei Savinykh said. “This decision was made contrary to all OSCE basic commitments and principles. While commenting on the topics and the discussion, international experts and observers from international parliamentary organizations (in particular, from the IPU) pointed to the lack of multilateralism in addressing the main issues."
The arguments were one-sided, which eventually made the outcome decisions biased and distorting the real situation, the MP noted. “I would like to quote the statements the OSCE PA made just a year ago: parliamentary diplomacy best helps to overcome differences. Engagement with all parties does not mean a division of opinions but is instrumental in finding solutions," he stressed. “By removing the delegations of Russia and Belarus from the summer session, the collective West sought to ensure the bloc dominance during the session and a choir of like-minded people. They were wary of Belarus' delegation because its report based on logic, obvious facts and common sense could have destroyed the emotionally-charged destructive atmosphere purposefully created at these meetings.
“This is very sad,” Andrei Savinykh noted.
