Lukashenka not to visit EaP Summit

Belarus won't be represented at very high level at the Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius.

This statement was made by Belarusian foreign minister Uladzimir Makei, Interfax reports.

“As for the level of our participation, the issue is being considered and discussed. I don't think this initiative requires a very high level of participation in the Eastern Partnership Summit,” he said at a press conference in Moscow on Tuesday.

According to the Belarusian foreign minister, “what concerns any particular dividends and profit, we don't expect them to be significant at this stage”. “Yes, we participate in some projects within the framework of the Eastern Partnership initiative on the multilateral track, but we cannot say these projects are very important,” Uladzimir Makei underlined.

He noted that “there are no special expectations” from the forthcoming summit. “We think our participation is useful to normilise our relations with the European Union,” the Belarusian MFA chief said. He reminded that the EU was Belarus's second partner after Russia. “The share of Russia in Belarus's trade turnout is about 49%, the EU's share is about 29%, almost 30%. It is rather high. It would be silly to refuse to cooperate with the EU in trade and business,” Makei said.

We remind that ambassador of Poland Leszek Szerepka said in Minsk on November 14 that Belarus couldn't be represented at the EaP Summit at the highest level so far.

“The level of representation depends on the level of relations between Belarus and the EU. It's not time for the country to be represented at the highest level,” the Polish ambassador said.