National Platform Concept was adopted in Minsk

At the conference that took place in Minsk, November, 16 Concept of the National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum (EAP CSF) was adopted by a majority vote.

 How to develop the National Platform of EAP CSF, what should be done for that and which guidelines to follow – these were the issues discussed at the one-day conference that took place in Minsk. The conference was devoted to the annual meeting of EAP CSF that will be held for the fourth time in Stockholm at the end of this month.

The representative of the EU Delegation in Belarus Ramunas Janushauskas made his welcoming address to the Conference participants and described the area for cooperation between Belarus and the EU, where Belarusian Civil Society is also seen as active stakeholder.

Head of the Board of International Consortium "EuroBelarus" Uladzimir Matskevich emphasized that our country, being a member of the Eastern Partnership, does not participate in the most important, leading projects of this initiative. “Belarus is practically just listed in the Eastern Partnership”, - stated the Head of the Coordinative Committee. The only cooperation is happening on the civil society level. However, according to Uladzimir Matskevich, the absence of the National Platform Concept was oppressing this cooperation to a certain degree.

The necessity to adopt this concept, as well as the aspiration to move to the more living activities was stated by other participants as well.

As a result, the participants of the conference were offered two variants of the concept to vote for. The authors of the first variant are the Chairperson of International Consortium “EuroBelarus” Ulad Vialichka and an expert of Humanitarian Technologies Agency Tatsiana Vadalazhskaja. The second variant was suggested by the analyst of the Belarusan Institute for Strategic Studies (BISS) Dzianis Melyantsau and the Head of the Office for Democratic Belarus Olga Stuzhinskaja. In the first variant a wider interpretation of the goals and functions of the National Platform of EAP CSF was suggested. And it was the first variant that was supported by a majority vote.

Moreover, during the conference regional cooperation processes, national programs and other questions concerning the development of the National Platform of the EAP SCF were discussed.