Off the wire
• Urgent: Gold down slightly on Greek talks  • FLASH: GREECE, EURO ZONE FINANCE CHIEFS HAVE AGREED TO EXTEND GREEK BAILOUT: REPORT  • Sweden's youngest royal turns one  • Somali leader, UN envoy condemn terror attack  • Swedish researchers discover previously unknown brain cells  • Ukraine closes almost half of crossings on border with Russia  • East African leaders call for permanent cease-fire in South Sudan  • EU to prepare for new Ukraine measures  • Roundup: Italian cabinet rolls out new employment, benefits rules after job market reform  • East African leaders call for speedy implementation of the monetary union  
You are here: 　 Home

Belarus seeks Latvia's help in efforts to expand contact with EU

Xinhua, February 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Friday said that he hoped Latvia may assist his country in the efforts to improve and increase contact with member states of the European Union.

President Lukashenko made the remarks at a meeting with Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics in Minsk, the Belarusian capital, Friday.

Latvia holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of the year 2015, a position that is considered by many as giving the seat holder an edge over other member states to influence the EU work agenda.

During Friday's meeting, Lukashenko also said Belarus is eager to expand cooperation with Latvia and other European Union member states without any prejudices.

"We need West with its resources. We borrow very much funds there for specific projects based on Western technologies. So if Latvia will help us to make contact with the EU during its Presidency in the EU, we'll be very grateful," Lukashenko said. " We hope that despite some prejudices on the part of individual politicians in Latvia (and in the West), we will be able to boost our economic cooperation."

The EU imposed visa and economic sanctions against government officials of Belarus in January 2011 in response to "the continued incarceration of political prisoners and crackdown on political activists, journalists and civil society representatives." Endite