Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's opening remarks at a meeting of the Collegiums of the Foreign Ministries of Russia and Belarus, Moscow, December 15, 2023
15 December 2023 12:21
2545-15-12-2023
Mr Aleinik,
Mr Mezentsev,
Colleagues.
We are delighted to welcome our Belarusian colleagues to Moscow. Yesterday, we started working with the Minister and his deputies; we will begin by sharing what we discussed and will follow the agenda approved for today's meeting.
The Republic of Belarus is our closest strategic partner and ally. The unique format of joint meetings of the foreign ministry collegiums of the two fraternal nations is a clear confirmation of this. We have been holding these meetings annually since 2000, after signing the Treaty on the Establishment of the Union State in 1999. Next year, we will celebrate the 25th anniversary of this agreement. I am confident that we will prepare for this anniversary in the best possible way.
Our joint efforts in this format have proven their relevance as an effective mechanism for coordinating policies on major international issues. This helps to strengthen professional contacts between the two countries' leaders and experts. It is gratifying that other government agencies in Russia and Belarus are also using this format of collegial cooperation. I believe that it is an important component of the union's development.
On November 29, the Council of Ministers of the Union State met in Moscow and approved a new integration package for the next three-year period, 2024-2026. We are waiting for its approval by the Supreme State Council of the Union State.
The two countries' foreign ministries are entrusted with providing effective diplomatic support for the broader effort to deepen the integration of the union. This task is outlined in the Coordinated Action Programme in Foreign Policy for 2022-2023. We will review its implementation today in line with the agenda.
In accordance with the programmes of concerted action that have been adopted since 1996 and contain guidelines for the two ministries, Russia and Belarus closely coordinate their approaches to the entire foreign policy agenda. They jointly promote common interests on the world stage and support each other in international organisations.
In implementing the final Resolution of last year's meeting, we specifically focused on cooperating in foreign policy planning, arms control, and countering the West's policy of politicising multilateral platforms. We continued to act from a coordinated stance in relation to the European Union, NATO and the Council of Europe.
I would like to use this opportunity to thank our Belarusian friends once again for adhering to the coordinated joint line at the meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Skopje on November 30 and December 1 of this year. Together with Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, we adopted a joint statement on the European security crisis.
Today's agenda is quite full and even innovative in some respects. It is entirely focused on the Global South and the Global East, or the Global Majority. These countries are open to cooperation based on equality and mutual benefit; they do not engage in ultimatums and threats (let alone impose sanctions). This agenda reflects the further adjustment of Russia and Belarus' foreign policy priorities to the current geopolitical realities.
We will need to consider a report on the implementation of the Programme of Coordinated Foreign Policy Actions for 2022-2023 and a new document for 2024-2026.
We will discuss a range of issues related to political, trade and economic interaction with countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as with friendly regional and inter-regional associations.
The current international situation will provide the backdrop for our focus on the prospects of creating a European security system. The recent meeting in North Macedonia has clearly demonstrated that the existing system is in deep crisis. The collective West's actions, including the Ukraine crisis that it provoked, have effectively undermined the entire security architecture in Europe. The West has definitively abandoned the principle of equality and indivisible security. NATO is becoming increasingly active on the Union State's western borders. The decisions adopted by the NATO Summit in Vilnius in July are evidence of its members' intention to persist with their aggressive and confrontational containment of Russia and Belarus.
Under these circumstances, it is pointless to talk about common approaches to ensuring regional stability between us and Western countries. This narrative is impossible at this stage. Therefore, our priority is to build a stable security and cooperation framework across all of Eurasia, together with like-minded nations based on existing integration associations.
The discussion on Eurasian security will be based on the results of the High-Level International Conference "Eurasian Security: Reality and Prospects in a Transforming World" convened at the initiative of President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk on October 26 of this year. There are numerous mechanisms and formats here that will be interested in working together. I am referring to the CSTO, the CIS, the SCO, as well as the Arab League, the Gulf Cooperation Council, and ASEAN.
It is in our mutual interests to establish a strong military and political foundation that would facilitate the resolution and prevention of conflicts and eliminate any possibility of military or other coercive dictates and domination by external players.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
