The Lithuanian Ambassador to the Republic of
Belarus Edminas Bagdonas yet at the first press conference on 14 February 2007
after his arrival to Minsk said that Lithuania would like to be the first one
to hear about the intention of Belarus to move towards Europe, “Being one of
the EU-Member states we support the EU policy and now look forward to concrete
proposals from Belarus. As soon as such proposals occur we would like to be the
first ones to hear them and to be the first advocates of
Belarus in
Europe”.
Edminas Badonas: “My dream is that
Belarus was recognized and respected in
Europe”.
Almost
two years passed since that day. How would the Ambassador of Lithuania Edminas
Bagdonas assess the outcomes of the past year and what perspectives does he
see?
“There
is definitely no life without optimism. The major issue is not about a dialogue
or improvement of relations as such. Personally I would like
Belarus to be in Europe and that there was more
of Europe in
Belarus.
This is the only and the major goal. Today a dialogue was initiated and perhaps
it will assist in reaching this particular goal. Relations can not be built on
the Soviet past.
Belarusians
are saying frequently that they have nothing to prove to anyone, that
Belarus is
Europe.
My desire and my dream is that there was as much as possible of this Europe in
Belarus in a
broad meaning of it. I also wish that
Belarus
was recognized and respected in
Europe. You
have everything for that. Today we are making moves in this direction”.
Now
there is a newly elected parliament and the Government in
Lithuania.
Naturally they have a lot of their own issues to resolve. Moreover, there is
economic crisis. Whether something might change with regard to the relations
with
Belarus?
Would such patronage and advocacy of Belarusian interest in
Europe
change?
“We
underline all the time that we have an open, clear and sincere wish not to
remain on the side and to help our neighbour, our brother-nation to be closer
to
Europe. Our new government continues making
steps forward in this direction. On 29 December the new Foreign Minister of Lithuania
Vygaudas Usackas visited
Belarus,
we met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus Sergey Martynov and the
Head of the Presidential Administration Vladimir Makey. We discussed many
issues: bilateral cooperation, economic issues, energy security and the
European Programme “Eastern Partnership”, initiated by the European Union. We
stand for independent, sovereign, prosperous and democratic
Belarus. These
are four crucial composites and we assist to achieve them. Belarusian
authorities are grateful to us for what we do. We have a lot of joint work to
do in the future, in the new year”.
The visit of the new Foreign Minister of
Lithuania
to
Belarus
is a good sign
In
the end of 2008 Belarus was visited by the newly appointed Minister of Foreign
Affairs of Lithuania Vygaudas Usackas, who replaced a very good friend of
Belarus at this position (an ex-Ambassador of Lithuania to Belarus) Petras
Vaitiekūnas. In the course of the meeting with his Lithuanian counterpart, the
Head of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry Sergey Martynov said, “
Belarus and
Lithuania are connected via good
neighbourhood relations, regardless of the fact that perhaps the two countries
are oriented towards different beacons. However the crucial point as that there
are issues that could only be solved through joint efforts”.
From
his side, Mr. V. Usackas pointed out that
Lithuania
was interested in developing political, economical and cultural relations with
Belarus. “I
came here to talk about various issues and created common future of the united
Europe”, said the Lithuanian Minister. He also emphasized
that he would be interested in discussing with Sergey Martynov the initiative
of the European Union “Eastern Partnership”. Mr. Usackas stressed that
Lithuania “welcomed the steps made by the
Belarusian government in order for
Belarus to become a partner of this
initiative in the future”. Mr. Usackas invited the Minister of Foreign Affairs
of Belarus Sergey Martynov to visit
Lithuania in 2009.
MPs of the Lithuanian Seim think about Belarus
The
Lithuanian Seim that has just recently abdicated had two groups on relations
with
Belarus.
One was Headed by the ethnic Belarusian Vatslav Stankevich, the other – by the Chairman
of the party “Fatherland Union” Rasa Yuknavicene. Mrs. Yuknavicene was
re-elected as a Seim Deputy. She believes that the relations with
Belarus should be changing for the better, “Our
party “Fatherland Union” is eager to see
Belarus having normal European
relations with the rest. Indeed it does not depend on us only however on the
Belarusian regime as well. If there are more steps forward towards Europe we
would only welcome that, we are prepared to be so-called advocates of the
Belarusian issue in
Europe”.
Lithuania is open for Belarusian civic
community
Lithuania,
being the closest neighbour to Belarus and being a so-called neutral territory,
hosts lots of international conferences, educational seminars, cultural events,
meetings with representatives of Belarusian civil society, opposition, creative
intelligentia and youth. For instance, on 22 – 24 July in
Vilnius
took place a highly representative international conference “Civil society and
the Media in
Belarus
prior to the Parliamentary elections’. The Conference was organized by a group
of the Lithuanian Seim “For Democratic Belarus” with the support of the Council
of Europe.
The
Human Rights House in
Vilnius
is hospitable to host many useful and interesting events. The
European
Humanities
University which has to function in exhale
found its place in
Lithuania
as well. Some Belarusian civil organizations and institutions were also
registered in
Lithuania,
for instance, “Parvaabaronchy Alians” (headed by Liudmila Griaznova),
International institute of Social, Economic and Political Research (headed by
Sociology Professor Aleh Manaeu).
People’s
Diplomacy
Regardless
of the relatively high cost of Schengen visas for Belarusians (60 Euro),
tourism is developing intensively. Belarusian tourists admire the Baltic shores
and like spending their vacations in Palanga. One-Day tours to
Vilnius are popular as well. The number of
tourists going from
Belarus
to
Lithuania
for instance increased in 2007 by 51.3% compared with the previous years. There
is no yet full statistics for 2008 however the State Border Service of
Lithuania reports that from 1 January to 31 October 2008 almost 500 thousand
Belarusians visited
Lithuania.
Belarusi
and
Lithuania
are planning to sign an agreement on mutual cross-border movement in the
nearest future, reported the Head of the State Border Committee of Belarus Igor
Rachkovsky. The document would affect first of all the sphere of tourist
services, road services and would improve the development of the so-called “people’s
diplomacy”. It is proposed that the zone of the small cross-border movement (50
km long) would be attended by around 800 thousand citizens of
Lithuania
without needing a visa, i.e. a permission only. Around 600 thousand Belarusians
would be able to visit their relatives in the
territory of
Lithuania.
Ludmila
Korsak
info@eurobelarus.info
