English

Martynaw not invited so far to attend Eastern Partnership meeting

Belarusian Foreign Minister Syarhey Martynaw has not been invited so far to attend a meeting of the Eastern Partnership foreign ministers that will take place in Prague on March 4, a visiting representative of the Czech foreign ministry told reporters in Minsk on Tuesday, BelaPAN said.

Ambassador Petr Mares, who is the ministry's special envoy for Eastern Partnership, said that Mr. Martynaw could yet be invited to the event but did not elaborate. "Both sides know what must be done for this to happen," he added.

The envoy said that he was staying in Minsk on a two-day visit that included meetings with representatives of the Belarusian foreign, culture and education ministries, Belarusian State University and the National Academy of Sciences.

In particular, Mr. Mares met with Raman Ramanowski, head of the foreign ministry's Department for Pan-European Cooperation. The Czech diplomat said that "problems in our relations" that concern "generally accepted values" had been raised at the meeting. "But this time the subject was not discussed in detail," he added.

Mr. Mares said that the subject of Belarus' political prisoners had not been discussed.

"The release of the political prisoners is the first step toward the development of cooperation between the EU and Belarus," he noted.

The envoy described the current state of relations between Belarus and the EU as a "deadlock." "This deadlock can be broken only through efforts by both sides and it seems to us that our hand has already been extended for cooperation, we are now waiting for Minsk's hand to be extended," he said.

Belarus has a great importance for the Czech Republic and Prague views Minsk's further involvement in the Eastern Partnership program as a top-priority issue, according to the diplomat.

"Belarus is a European country, it has been part of Europe almost throughout its history and is now torn between the East and the West," Mr. Mares said.

"In the current situation finding a balance is the most difficult task. It would be easier to leave Belarus in isolation, but we don't want that. Contacts may not be severed altogether, because we know that there's only one capital that would take advantage of the situation and would have the means to do so," he said in an apparent reference to Moscow.