Speech
Permanent Council No 548 of the OSCE: EU Statement in reponse to the statement of Belarus on the Belarus assistance coordination workshop held on 17-18 March in Vilnius

Date of Speech : 17-03-2005

Place : Vienna

Speaker : Jacques Reuter, Permanent Representative of Luxembourg at the OSCE

Policy area : General Affairs and External Relations

With regard to the statement by Belarus, the European Union would like to inform the Permanent Council that a Belarus assistance coordination workshop organized by the European Commission and hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania, commences today in Vilnius.

 Following the Council of the European Union conclusions of 22 November 2004 this workshop is the third in a series of three events on EU assistance to Belarus, including the assistance to democratisation and the strengthening of the civil society in Belarus, addressing the needs of the population, cross-border cooperation, tackling environmental, health and other care issues. It brings together representatives of the EU Member States, the European Commission, non-governmental organizations, international financing institutions, international organizations and other donor countries. The purpose of the event is to exchange views with other donors, and to communicate our assistance policy approach to the public.