Commenting on a report on the situation in Belarus, which was adopted yesterday, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry expressed confidence in the need for expanding cooperation with the Council of Europe and its Parliamentary Assembly. Belarusian diplomats welcomed the Parliamentary Assembly’s decision to continue high-level contacts with the Belarusian authorities and supported PACE’s call for the European Union to consider the possibility of lifting all current sanctions against Belarus. At the same time, the Parliamentary Assembly has not yet managed to completely abandon false stereotypes and outdated approaches, the Foreign Ministry said. Also, according to the diplomats, the official Minsk regrets the inclusion of a Lithuanian amendment on the Belarusian NPP into the report, which took place despite some deputies’ objections that this topic has nothing to do with PACE’s activities.
The Foreign Ministry also stressed that a number of human rights issues outlined in the report were already being discussed as part of dialogues between Belarus and its Western partners.
