BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
17/04/2009
Czech ForMin invites Belarus to summit on Eastern Partnership
Minsk/Prague - Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, on a visit to Minsk, today invited Belarus on behalf of the EU presidency to attend the forthcoming summit in Prague that is to focus on the EU Eastern Partnership project.
Czech Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zuzana Opletalova told CTK that the invitation has been extended to the state and it is up to Belarus to choose the official to represent it at the Prague meeting.
Citing the Belarussian foreign ministry, the Reuters agency has reported that President Alexandr Lukashenko has been invited to attend the Prague summit.
"Minister [Schwarzenberg] extended the invitation at his meeting with President Alexandr Lukashenko. The Belarussian party will decide on who will represent the country at the summit," said Opletalova.
The EU summit on Eastern Partnership is to be held on May 7.
Belarus is one of the six former Soviet Union states that are expected to join the project.
Lukashenko's regime has been criticised for human rights violation and suppression of the opposition.
In reaction to this, Lukashenko previously indicated that he would not attend the summit, not even if he were invited.
Apart from Belarus, the project reckons with the involvement of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. In exchange for reforms, the EU offers the countries a chance to come closer to the EU, which plans to invest some 600 million euros in the project until 2013.
Source:
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