News

On 27 June in Vilnius, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius met with representatives of the Belarusian opposition and discussed priorities for the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, with special focus on the Eastern Partnership – a key priority of the Presidency’s foreign policy.

The Lithuanian Foreign Minister called on the representatives of Belarusian civil society to participate actively in the major side events to the Eastern Partnership Vilnius Summit – such as the Eastern Partnership Youth Forum and the Civil Society Conference. The Belarusian representatives presented their assessments and insights into trends and prospects for development of relations between the EU and Belarus.

Linkevičius stressed the importance for the region’s future of the Association Agreements, including their Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) parts, which were being conducted with Eastern Partnership countries. According to the Minister, it is expected that the Association Agreement will be signed with Ukraine at an early date, and the same agreements will be initialled with Moldova, Georgia and Armenia.

“This sends a clear message to Belarusian citizens that democratic reforms, respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the existence of a market economy open up new perspectives for the development of relations between the EU and its neighbouring countries. Europe believes that Belarus will also enter into this path,” said the Foreign Minister.

He also highlighted that Lithuania and other EU member states called on Belarus to release and rehabilitate all the country’s political prisoners. “This is an important and welcome step forward for Belarus in its relations with the EU,” stressed Linkevičius.

At the end of the meeting, the head of the Lithuanian diplomacy said that he was glad that he was having this open conversation and wished the Belarusian representatives good luck in the strengthening of Belarusian civil society.