MINSK, 21 November (BelTA) – Maintaining an efficient dialogue while identifying, using and promoting historical and cultural heritage of Belarus and Russia can help promote this heritage in the international arena, Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei said at a joint session of the board of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the collegium of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 21 November, BelTA has learned.
Top on the agenda of the joint session is expansion of cooperation in culture. Vladimir Makei noted that cooperation potential in this field is not utilized in full; this pertains to the opportunities of the National Commissions for UNESCO.
“Building an efficient dialogue to identify, jointly use and promote historical and cultural heritage of Belarus and Russia can become an important instrument for promoting common historical and cultural heritage in the international arena, expanding cultural, information and education space of our states,” the minister said.
Humanitarian matters are also in the focus. Cooperation between Belarus and Russia in the UN is based on trust, common vision and coordinated action, Vladimir Makei noted. In this context, it is very important to work together in the UN and other international organizations to prevent history falsification.
“It is not the first time that we are actualizing approaches to preventing attempts by individual forces, let's call them this way, to diminish the contribution of the Soviet Union to the liberation of Europe and Asia from fascism, to revise the outcome of the Second World War and the post-war world order. However, this topic is getting particularly relevant in view of the forthcoming anniversaries: 75th anniversary of Belarus' liberation from the German fascists in 2019 and the 75th anniversary of the Great Victory in 2020. Everything that has to do with the Great Patriotic War and the feat of Soviet soldiers is sacred to Belarusians and Russians. This history helps us bring up a new generation of patriots. We should not let it fade away,” Vladimir Makei said.
Apart from that, Belarus wants to ramp up cooperation with Russia in order to come up with new forms of work and innovative approaches and to hold joint events at the level of diplomatic missions.
