BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

30/11/2009

Italy's Berlusconi visits long-isolated Belarus

Lukashenko told the Italian newspaper La Stampa this week that he did not plan to make any concessions on human rights.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi arrived in Belarus on Monday, making the first visit by a Western leader in 15 years to the country once dubbed "Europe's last dictatorship."

Berlusconi arrived on Monday afternoon for a brief visit with an official agenda focused on boosting economic ties. He was expected to hold talks with Belarus' strongman President Alexander Lukashenko and give a joint press conference at 1530 GMT.

The visit brings to an end the diplomatic isolation imposed on Belarus by the West over its multiple abuses of human rights, which has made the former Soviet republic a pariah state since Lukashenko came to power in 1994.

Lukashenko told the Italian newspaper La Stampa this week that he did not plan to make any concessions on human rights.

- I don't think that Silvio will ask me for any guarantees - on democratic rights, Lukashenko said, adding that "certain others" could learn from Belarus's example.

Last year, the European Union softened its stance on Belarus and lifted a travel ban on Lukashenko and other Belarussian officials, in what was seen as a new strategy of engagement with the country.

Berlusconi's visit came in response to Lukashenko's visit to Rome in April. The Italian premier said then that the time had come for Belarus to emerge from its isolation.

Lukashenko has previously received political leaders with an anti-Western stance such as Libyan leader Colonel Moamer Kadhafi, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Agreements on energy, industry and agriculture were to be signed during Berlusconi's visit, as well as a draft agreement between Italian engineering group Finmeccanica and the Belarussian government, a spokesman for the Italian Embassy in Belarus told AFP.

Source:

http://www.javno.com/en-world/italys-berlusconi-visits-long-isolated-belarus_284183


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