Republic

Belarus, UNCTAD confirm intention to strengthen cooperation

On July 17 President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko met with Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, BelTA has been told in the press service of the head of state. The Head of State said Belarus “attaches great importance to the UNCTAD activity.” President Alexander Lukashenko has thanked UNCTAD for assistance with Belarus’ accession to WTO. Alexander Lukashenko stressed Belarus puts much emphasis on the UNCTAD efforts to develop trade and development. Alexander Lukashenko urged the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development to support both Belarus and other medium and small countries in the complicated globalisation conditions. “As far as the WTO is concerned, you should definitely understand that regardless of whether we enter the WTO or not, we will be amongst other countries of the World Trade Organisation and will work with them using WTO principles. We would like these states to work with us without double standards, using WTO principles. That is why it is very important for us to be WTO members. Otherwise, we may be discriminated against by these states,” the Belarusian Head of State said. The UNCTAD Secretary General thanked Belarus for fruitful cooperation with UNCTAD. Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi highly appreciated cooperation with Belarus’ permanent mission to the UN Office and other international organisations in Geneva. The foreign official stressed, Belarusian diplomats in Geneva help a lot with the UNCTAD reformation, which is aimed at making the organisation more comprehensive, effective and hence more helpful to transition economies and developing countries. The UNCTAD Secretary General said the organisation intends to intensify cooperation with Belarus and other countries in the region. The meeting focuses on specific ways to strengthen cooperation between Belarus and UNCTAD. Belarus joined UNCTAD in 1964. The country attaches big attention to the participation in the intergovernmental dialogue within the framework of the organisation and sees it as a tool to attract attention to the development problems of the economies in transition. Since September 2006 Belarus has been acting as the coordinator of Central and Eastern Europe countries and the CIS in UNCTAD. For this purpose UNCTAD will provide technical assistance to Belarus in accessing the World Trade Organization within the frames of the country project implemented in partnership with the United Nations Development Project (UNDP). In 2007-2008 UNCTAD and UNDP will survey the investment policy of Belarus and provide assistance to the National Investment Agency.