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Italian families have adopted about 600 Belarusian children in last two decades, ambassador says

Italian families have adopted about 600 Belarusian children in the last 20 years and have applied for adopting 400 more, Norberto Cappello, the Italian ambassador to Belarus, told reporters in Minsk on May 29.

Mr. Capello expressed hope that the Belarusian government would grant the applications.

In the last two decades, more than 340,000 Belarusian children have made health trips to Italy at least once, the ambassador said. According to him, Italy still receives about 20,000 Belarusian children annually.

Despite an interstate agreement that specifies the conditions on which Belarusian children can holiday in Italy and be adopted by Italian families, the number of such adoptions has been minimal, the ambassador said. Italy also hopes that the issue of the custody of children will be revisited, he noted.

Belarus has signed a number of international conventions that prioritize the interests of children, Mr. Capello said. The most important thing for an orphan child is to have a family, he stressed.

While international relations are usually impersonal, the ties between Belarus are unique, as they involve intimate relationships between families and individuals, Mr. Capello said. //BelaPAN