BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

16/06/2009

Belarus-Germany economic council meets again after 13-year hiatus

Author : DPA

Minsk - Belarusian President Aleksander Lukashenko presided personally on Tuesday as a top level German-Belarusian economic development council convened for the first time in thirteen years. Berlin broke off participation in the Belarusian-German Council of Economic Cooperation, an inter-government group promoting trade between the two countries, in 1996 after Lukashenko took total control of Belarus in a constitutional coup.

The renewal of talks attended by senior businessmen and politicians from both countries was according to Lukashenko grounded in long-standing trade between Germany and Belarus, and mutual economic interest.

"It has taken more than a decade but the Belarusian-German Council of Economic Cooperation has again met," Lukashenko said. "We have long cooperated with Germany, we have excellent trade."

Berndt Pfaffenbach, state secretary of Germany's Ministry of Economics and Technology; and Klaus Mangold, chairman of the Eastern Committee of the German Economic Council, headed up the German delegation.

"We have always understood our role to act as a bridge between Belarus and the European Union," Pfaffenbach said. "If a normal (working) framework is created, and we have the impression Belarus is working towards this end, we certainly can make (new) important and concrete projects a reality."

European Union governments have long shunned Lukashenko for his poor human rights record, and in recent years Brussels even banned his travel to EU nations.

Lukashenko since a falling out with Russia two years ago has worked to improve relations with the EU by cracking down somewhat less overtly on Belarusian opposition groups, and enacting mild market reforms.

The Belarusian leader's limited gestures towards Europe have nonetheless in recent months produced results including a cancellation of the travel ban, and an April trip by Lukashenko to Rome for an audience with Pope Benedict XVI.

Russia's increasingly poor relations with the EU are partly responsible for improving relations between Minsk and Brussels, according to political observers in Belarus.

Germany is one of Belarus' largest trading partners, with trade volume growing 24 per cent to the equivalent value of 3.6 billion dollars, the Belapan news agency reported.

Source:

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/273474,belarus-germany-economic-council-meets-again-after-13-year-hiatus.html

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