Swedish ambassador Stefan Eriksson: “Belarusians are interesting to Europe by their uniqueness”

On July 18 Stefan Eriksson, Swedish Ambassador to Belarus, welcomed participants of the 5th Congress of Belarusians of the world has opened in Minsk Educational Centre.

“Before becoming a European, one should become a Belarusian,” Swedish Ambassador stated.

As said by him, he works in Belarus for the 4th year, and he admires the Belarusian language and culture. “I see that Belarusians are a unique and considerable European nation, which exceeds the Swedish nation by far in the quantity; the nation that has a right for existence, for its culture and its language,” the diplomat said.

Belarusians can contribute their unique history, culture and language to Europe, the Ambassador believes. “That’s what makes you interesting for us and for the whole world,” Eriksson underlined. As said by him, the most important thing that characterizes the Belarusian nation is its culture.

The diplomat finds the problem of protection and development of the national identity which had been announced as the topic of the congress, “very important”, as “before becoming a European or a citizen of the world, one still has to become a Belarusian first”.