The events of the Central European Initiative (CEI) in Belarus create a good platform for the future, Sergei Rakhmanov, Chairman of the International Affairs and National Security Commission of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus, told the media on 1 June summing up the results of the recent session of the CEI Parliamentary Committee in Minsk.
“The fact that the spring CEI events in Minsk brought together representatives of 12 countries [out of 18] for the first time is an important landmark achievement. The previous meetings gathered representatives of no more than nine countries. The session in Minsk featured a record high number of participants,” Sergei Rakhmanov noted. He believes that this creates a good platform for the future, including for the relations of Belarus with the European community and other CEI member states.
Sergei Rakhmanov said that the initial objective of the Council of the Republic, which is involved in the organization of the CEI events, during the preparations for the session of the CEI Parliamentary Committee was to take the discussion beyond the scope of a standard interparliamentary conversation. “Intellectualization of economy and management was suggested as the key theme of our work. We also talked about the cooperation in science, education, and technology. We touched upon all economy-related issues and talked about multilateral collaboration,” Sergei Rakhmanov added.
He said that the main result of the session in Minsk was the readiness of the MPs of 12 CEI member states to further develop the cooperation with Belarus and to come to Belarus again in November to attend the session of the CEI Parliamentary Assembly in a wider format. “Our country has made a favorable impression on our partners,” Sergei Rakhmanov remarked.
He pointed out that specific areas for bilateral economic cooperation were discussed during the session of the CEI Parliamentary Committee in Minsk. “For instance, Hungary has a well-established banking system, and well-developed small and medium-sized businesses in different sectors, including high technology and agriculture. This country's practices are useful for Belarus in the context of the ongoing liberalization of the economy and the work to prepare a set of documents related, first of all, to manufacturing entrepreneurship. We would benefit greatly from a closer cooperation in banking and finance,” the Belarusian MP said.
Poland is another CEI member state that has been Belarus' partner for many years. However, the Belarusian-Polish cooperation in different sectors gained momentum only recently. Sergei Rakhmanov is confident that Belarus and Poland have common interests, for instance, logistics and the projects conducted as part of the Silk Road Economic Belt initiative. “In our cooperation we should take into account not only logistics, but also the manufacturing factor. We should join our efforts in order to develop the necessary production infrastructure bearing in mind the interests of the two countries,” the MP explained.
Sergei Rakhmanov believes that in general, the CEI events help Belarus set up important direct ties that will continue to grow stronger. “We hope to establish new business ties and exchanges with the assistance of our partners, so that foreign businessmen could see our assets and develop proposals regarding the development of specific sectors,” the MP said.