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Foreign ministers of Belarus, Lithuania, Ukraine meet near Minsk

The foreign ministers of Belarus, Lithuania and Ukraine met at the Zaslawye government residence near Minsk on September 8, BelaPAN reports.

The meeting was the third round of trilateral consultations, with two previous ones taking place in Vilnius in February 2009 and in Kyiv in November 2009.

As Belarusian Foreign Minister Syarhey Martynaw told reporters following the meeting, under discussion were the current state and development prospects of the European Union’s Eastern Partnership program and cooperation between Belarus, Ukraine and Lithuania for the purpose of advancing common interests in the framework of this program.

“We agreed that the list of joint projects that was drawn up by our countries last year and submitted to the Eastern Partnership would be finalized within the next few days, and that a shorter list of priority projects will be drawn up, which we’ll be jointly promoting in the framework of the Eastern Partnership,” Mr. Martynaw said.

He noted that there would be four to seven such projects. Other projects will be promoted depending on circumstances and opportunities, he added.

Mr. Martynaw also had bilateral meetings with his counterparts Audronius Azubalis and Kostyantyn Hryshchenko to discuss pressing issues in Belarusian-Lithuanian and Belarusian-Ukrainian relations.

In pictures:
2 – (from left to right) Syarhey Martynaw, Kostyantyn Hryshchenko and Audronius Azubalis;
4 – (from left to right) Audronius Azubalis; Edminas Bagdonas, the Lithuanian ambassador to Belarus; Syarhey Martynaw; Alyaksey Skrypko, head of the Belarusian foreign ministry`s Main Europe Directorate; Kostyantyn Hryshchenko;
5 - (from left to right) Audronius Azubalis, Syarhey Martynaw and Kostyantyn Hryshchenko;
7 – (from left to right) Audronius Azubalis, Edminas Bagdonas and Syarhey Martynaw.