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Foreign Minister Makey meets with UNDP administrator in New York

Belarusian Foreign Minister Uladzimir Makey met with Helen Elizabeth Clark, administrator of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), in New York on September 26.

According to the press office of the Belarusian foreign ministry, Mr. Makey and Ms. Clark discussed UNDP projects in Belarus and identified areas for cooperation.

Economic development, environment, power generation, the prevention of human trafficking and joint implementation of Chernobyl-related projects were pointed to as priority areas for cooperation between Belarus and UNDP.

Ms. Clark assured the Belarusian foreign minister that UNDP was ready to continue cooperation with Minsk and spoke highly of the current level of bilateral cooperation, the press office said.

On the same day, Mr. Makey had meetings with his counterparts from Georgia, Vietnam, Ecuador and a number of EU countries, as well as with Thorbjorn Jagland, general secretary of the Council of Europe, to discuss the current state and development prospects of cooperation at both bilateral and multilateral levels.

Mr. Makey also delivered a speech at the UN General Assembly's high-level meeting on nuclear disarmament. In his speech, he noted Belarus' “unique contribution" to the global process of nuclear disarmament based on the country's decision to give up its nuclear weapons.
Mr. Makey said that a country's decision to give up nuclear weapons should not weaken but rather strengthen its sovereignty and territorial integrity and expand opportunities for economic development.

He pointed out that some states’ biased approach to the security guarantees granted to Belarus in the Budapest Memorandum following its consent to removing nuclear weapons from its territory was a factor affecting Belarus' national security. This approach obviously sends an “unequivocal negative signal to countries that are considering nuclear disarmament," he said. //BelaPAN