BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

14/04/2009

Czech foreign minister to visit Belarus on Thursday

Prague - Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg will visit Belarus on Thursday, probably in connection with the Eastern Partnership project that the European Union is to launch in early May.

Schwarzenberg is to be the first Czech foreign minister to visit Belarus, the ministry said.

Eastern Partnership is to reinforce cooperation with six former Soviet Union countries including Belarus. EU foreign ministers dealt with the programme at the Hluboka chateau in south Bohemia in late March.

Schwarzenberg said previously that EU foreign ministers also discussed the participation of Belarus in the programme at the meeting.

It is not yet clear whether Belarussian President Alexandr Lukashenko, whom some have called the last European dictator, will be invited to the Prague summit where the programme is to be officially launched on May 7.

Apart from Belarus, Eastern Partnership concerns Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

Brussels has repeatedly criticised Belarus for the violation of human rights. However, the situation recently somewhat improved in the country. As a result, the EU agreed to extend the suspension of travelling sanctions on the leaders of Lukashenko's regime.

Czech diplomacy has been supporting the Belarussian democratic opposition in the long term.

Source:

http://www.ceskenoviny.cz/news/zpravy/czech-foreign-minister-to-visit-belarus-on-thursday/371033

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