Belarusan Foreign Minister attended high-level meeting of UN General Assembly in New York

Belarusan Foreign Minister Uladzimir Makei also met Helen Elizabeth Clark, administrator of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), in New York on September 26.

On September 25, 2013, during the first day of his visit to New York Mr. Vladimir Makei, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, attended the high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly to follow up efforts made towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

Approved by world leaders in 2000, eight large-scale goals embodied the first in the world's history global programme for development and improvement of living standards of the population of the planet, reminds the press office of the Belarusan foreign ministry. All countries of the world and international development organizations pledged that by the year 2015 they would eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education, promote equality between men and women, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability and promote global partnership for development.

Along with UN Secretary-General, President of the European Commission, Presidents of Bolivia and Rwanda, Prime Ministers of Japan, Norway and Fiji, State Secretary of the United States, Foreign Minister of China, President of the World Bank, head of the delegation of Belarus addressed the high-level meeting on behalf of the Presidency of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

In his statement the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus noted that economic cooperation is a priority for the countries of the CIS. Shared competitive advantages of the Commonwealth countries in sectors such as energy, transport, agriculture, mining and processing of natural resources allowed the CIS states in general to overcome successfully the consequences of the world financial and economic crisis.

Belarusan representative encouraged the participants of the meeting to think already at this point about shaping the new and bold UN global development agenda for the post-2015 period. Noting that the key milestone on this road will be the UN summit in 2015, Mr. Makei called for preparation of serious and realistic sustainable development commitments to be adopted at the summit.

According to the press office of the Belarusan foreign ministry, the parties discussed the UNDP projects implementation in Belarus and defined the areas of further cooperation. UNDP Administrator appreciated the level of cooperation with Belarus.

The Minister also addressed a speech during the first ever high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly on nuclear disarmament that was convened at the initiative of the Non-Aligned Movement. The Head of the Belarusan Foreign Service paid attention to the significant contribution of Belarus to the global process of nuclear disarmament, abandoning the right of possession of a substantial nuclear arsenal.

Mr.Vladimir Makei regretted to note that the liberal way in which some states interpret their security guarantees extended in the Budapest Memorandum to Belarus in connection with the withdrawal of her nuclear weapons, is a factor negatively affecting global security. The Minister declared that such precedents provide unambiguous and negative signal to the countries that consider the consequences of nuclear disarmament for themselves.

The Head of the Belarusan diplomacy also expressed hope that this UN body will find the right response to the challenges of achieving complete nuclear disarmament and reaching a “nuclear zero”.

Mr.Vladimir Makei, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus, also held bilateral meetings with Foreign Ministers of Georgia, Ecuador, Vietnam, some UN countries, with Secretary General of the Council of Europe. The parties discussed the prospects of the bilateral and multilateral cooperation.