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Belarus should overcome isolation for dialogue with EU, German ambassador says

The German ambassador to Belarus, Martin Hecker, said that Minsk should overcome its isolation to engage in dialogue with the European Union.

"The EU has always been signaling its readiness for dialogue with Belarus," the ambassador said during an online conference hosted by the tut.by portal on Wednesday.

He stressed that demands that the EU had made on Minsk in November 2006 in its new strategy toward the country had remained unchanged. "Nobody in the EU speaks for the abolition of these demands."

When asked about the EU's sanctions against Belarus, Mr. Hecker said that they had been imposed against certain officials "bearing political responsibility," not common people.

He said that Germany and other EU member countries had been and would always be opposing human rights violations in the country. "Belarus is almost our immediate neighbor and is very important to us."

He stressed that he wanted Belarus to be an open and democratic country that would find its place in Europe.

As for relations between Belarus and Germany, the ambassador said that his country was interested in humanitarian cooperation, person-to-person contacts, support for civil society and academic exchange, noting that the latter offered an opportunity to Belarusian youths to make their own impression of life in Germany.

He added that he would follow events on March 25, the 89th anniversary of the short-lived Belarusian National Republic (BNR). "I know that for many people, this day is a symbol of hope for an independent and democratic Belarus."