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Eighty-eight NGOs apply for participation in second meeting of Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum

Eighty-eight Belarusian non-governmental organizations have applied for participation in the second meeting of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum in Berlin in November 2010, BelaPAN reports.

While speaking at a conference in Minsk on Monday, International Consortium EuroBelarus head Ulad Vyalichka said that at least 22 NGOs would be selected to send their representatives to the event.

The establishment of the Forum gave Belarus' civil society "an impetus to the resumption of active work and revived cooperation with partners in the EU and the region," he said.

He acknowledged the "absence of communication" between Belarus' NGOs and authorities on the subject of the country's involvement in the Eastern Partnership and said that promoting the program in Belarus was a difficult job.

Janis Aizsalnieks, attache of the EU delegation to the country, emphasized the importance of civil society's participation in reforms in the six post-Soviet countries involved in the Eastern Partnership and said that the Forum had been launched to contribute to this.

Seventy-six NGOs applied for participation in the first meeting of the forum and 27 were picked for participation.