It is symbolic that it coincided with the events when Belarus honors the memory of the victims of World War II. This was stated by the head of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry Vladimir Makei. According to the minister, in a week the President of Belarus will open a memorial in "Trostenets" near Minsk, where more than 250 thousand people from all over Europe, mostly Jews, were exterminated by the Nazis. Presidents of Germany and Austria will take part in the ceremony. In addition, the today's plenary session held an open and constructive exchange of views on the further development of the Eastern Partnership, taking into account the outcome of the Brussels summit in 2017, as well as in the context of the situation in the region.
Vladimir Makei, Foreign Minister of Belarus: "We talked about how to implement the tasks of the Eastern Partnership, how to adapt the Eastern Partnership to the needs and interests of the partner countries, and how to improve the effectiveness of cooperation within its framework. We can unequivocally state that over the last couple of years we have achieved specific results: in general, cooperation, trade and cooperation with the EU has improved."
According to Vladimir Makei, Belarus maintains a direct dialogue between the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union with the prospect of creating a stable and prosperous common economic space between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. By the end of the year, Belarus and the EU can sign an agreement on the priorities of the Partnership until 2020, European Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy Johannes Khan said at a press conference.
