Belarus suspends agreement on cooperation in education with Poland

MINSK, 25 January (BelTA) - The MPs passed a bill "On suspension of the agreement between the Belarusian and Polish governments on cooperation in education" at the ninth session of the House of Representatives of the seventh convocation, BelTA informs.

The bill has been submitted to the House of Representatives by the Council of Ministers.

The agreement between the governments of Belarus and Poland on cooperation in education was signed in Warsaw on 20 July 2016. In Belarus it was ratified by law No. 7-З "On ratification of the agreement between the government of the Republic of Belarus and the government of the Republic of Poland on cooperation in education" on 14 December 2016 and entered into force on 29 December 2016.

The bill was presented by Education Minister Andrei Ivanets. "One of the grounds for concluding the agreement was the normalization of relations between Poland and Belarus. The agreement outlined the main areas of bilateral cooperation in the field of education. These include the development of direct contacts between educational institutions and scientific organizations, the mutual exchange of students, graduate students, faculty, and also the organization of retraining and advanced training of teachers in the field of Belarusian and Polish philology. Yet, over the past two years, we have seen a number of unfriendly steps on the part of Poland, including within the framework of the international organizations," he said.

The agreement does not contain provisions on the possibility of its suspension. In line with article 62, paragraphs 1, 2, of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties of 23 May 1969, an international treaty may be suspended in the event of a fundamental change of circumstances which has occurred with regard to those existing at the time of the conclusion of a treaty. The agreement is suspended to protect the national interests, including in order to prevent the outflow of graduates of general educational institutions abroad.

The decision to terminate the agreement was taken in accordance wit article 44 of the Law "On International Treaties of the Republic of Belarus".