News

On 13 May, the delegation of the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry, headed by the Lithuanian Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrius Krivas, met for bilateral consultations with the delegation of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, led by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus Elena Kupchina.

During the meeting, a lot of attention was devoted to the relationship between the European Union and Belarus, as well as to prospects following the Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius and preparing for the Eastern Partnership Summit to be held in Riga in 2015. E.Kupchina positively evaluated the role of Lithuania’s EU Council Presidency and the EU-Belarus agenda. The Belarusian Deputy Foreign Minister presented the EU-Belarus newly opened talks on visa facilitation and readmission agreements and affirmed that Belarus took interest in the advancement of relations with the EU and in the participation in the Eastern Partnership programme.

During the consultations, officials also openly exchanged their views and positions on the EU-Belarus controversy over human rights. The Lithuanian side emphasized that a constructive solution to these issues would unbar the way to the EU’s full-scale direct political dialogue with Belarus.

The meeting also discussed key issues related to bilateral cooperation, especially in the field of economy. The officials positively evaluated bilateral efforts to tap the potential of transport and transit, trade, investment, tourism, historical and cultural heritage. The delegations discussed ways to improve consular services in the two countries.

During the consultations, the officials exchanged opinions on the political and security situation in the region of Eastern Europe. The diplomats of both countries underlined the need for political and diplomatic measures to de-escalate the situation in eastern and southern Ukraine and stressed the importance of the upcoming presidential elections in Ukraine to ensure a free and peaceful future of Ukraine.

At the guest’s imitative, the next round of regular bilateral consultations at Deputy Ministerial level will be held in the second half of the year in Belarus.

During the visit, E.Kupchina and the Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Linas Linkevičius had a brief conversation.