News

On November 20 Lithuanian Foreign Deputy Minister Evaldas Ignatavičius and Lithuanian Ambassador to Belarus Jonas Paslauskas delivered their reports on the situation in Belarus as well as on the co-operation between the Council of Europe and Belarus at the session of the Political Affairs Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe held in Vilnius, where the Belarus delegation participated on the Committee's invitation. Quoting the Deputy Minister, the Belarus issue is among the priorities of Lithuania's Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. He stressed that Lithuania had constantly been encouraging Belarus to bilateral economic, regional and inter-frontier co-operation as well as cultural and educational projects. Lithuania had also been interested in strengthening the role of international organizations in the neighbouring state. "Belarus must be regarded in the context of integration and regional co-operation processes in Europe."- concluded the Deputy Minister. "The Council of Europe's policy towards Belarus has to be clear and transparent." Ambassador Jonas Paslauskas stressed upon the importance of development civil society in that country. Quoting the Ambassador, "A dialogue is one of numbering possibilities to promote democratic processes in Belarus". During the Session the address by Belarus President Lukashenko was announced to the members. Lukashenko urged the CoE to revise the provisions of conferring on "a special guest" status at the Parliamentary Assembly for Belarus. The MPs decided not to discuss the question mentioned above as premature still they agreed on supporting a pragmatic "step by step" strategy in respect to this country. The session adopted a decision to send a delegation of the members of the COE PA Political Affairs Committee to Belarus to ascertain possibilities for a dialogue with that state. The Council of Europe suspended the participation of Belarus in the organization in 1997. One of the Political Affairs Committee sessions is regularly held in the capital of the country chairing the Committee of Ministers. Lithuania has been chairing the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe since November 2001 and will continue till May 2002.