EU commissioner going to Minsk to strengthen EU ties with Belarus

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MINSK, June 21 (Itar-Tass) - The European Union is stepping up its
contacts with Belarus. Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the European Commissioner
for External Relations and European Neighbohood Policy, will arrive in
Minsk on Sunday evening to develop a dialogue with the Belarusian
authorities.
Shortly before her visit Benita Ferrero-Waldner said that President
Alexander Lukashenko had asked her to visit Belarus "as early as
possible". The EU commissioner is not going to Minsk empty-handed. The
European Union has allocated 10 million euros to Belarus to enable it to
"improve the quality and increase the production of Belarusian food
products."
Prior to her visit Benita Ferrero-Waldner said that Belarus had
recently made steps in the right direction and the European Union had
appreciated it and invited Belarus to join the "Eastern Partnership"
program. She described it as a vital step forward in the EU-Belarusian
relations but noted that Belarus still had to develop democratic freedoms,
i.e. to create opportunities for representatives of civil society to work
and meet freely without any pressure or fears of being arrested as well as
to create conditions for local and foreign journalists to work freely and
distribute the products of their work without restrictions. She also added
that the European Union was ready to offer more aid in various spheres if
it makes progress on the path of democratisation.
"Our further relations will depend on what choice Belarus is going to
make," she said.
The official part of Ferrero-Waldner's visit begins on June 22.
According to the Belarusian Foreign Ministry and the EU office in Minsk,
she will meet President Lukashenko and Foreign Minister Sergei Martynov
and will deliver a speech in front of representatives of the ruling
authorities and Belarusian civil society.
Many high-ranking European officials have visited Belarus in recent
months after a long period of western isolation. They include Javier
Solana, the EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security
Policy, Deputy Secretary-General of the Council of Europe Maud de Boer -
Buquicchio, Joren Lindblad, the chairman of the political committee of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and Andrea Rigoni,
the PACE reporter on Belarus.