Our foreign policy seeks to encourage domestic sustainable development, i.e. to build up such international relations that would bring larger benefits for our economic growth and prosperity.
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Our key principle in external affairs is a balanced, multiple-directed foreign policy harmonizing consistency and pragmatism with flexibility and larger ability to respond to major challenges effectively.
Our key priority is our neighbours.
Russia. A major trade and economic partner for Belarus, Russia remains our major strategic ally. Belarus and Russia continue to intensify cooperation both bilaterally and multilaterally. However, ensuring our full sovereignty is crucial in relations with Russia.
Commonwealth of Independent States. Created to re-integrate post-Soviet nations, the CIS is an essential part of our foreign policy. Belarus wants to see stronger CIS with more political, economic and cultural integration of all post-Soviet nations. Our trade with nations of the former Soviet Union continues to be increasingly high.
Belarus is constantly seeking for a new formula in post-Soviet integration that would rise to differences emerging within the CIS and offer new options in cooperation among the CIS nations.
Eurasian Economic Community. Set up to unify customs regulations of six post-Soviet countries, EurAsEC is a platform for a more advanced inter-sectoral cooperation. With economic integration as a key pivot of the EurAsEC, larger cooperation is now unfolding in broader areas ranging from social-related areas like education, healthcare and sport, to some aspects of foreign policy.
Collective Security Treaty Organization. A regional security organization, CSTO is an effective instrument of ensuring better security for Belarus and other six post-Soviet member countries. CSTO effectively deals with such common challenges as terrorism, arms proliferation, drug trafficking, and migration.
European Union. EU is naturally a crucial part of our foreign policy. Belarus and EU have many issues to deal with jointly. These are energy and mineral resources transit and supply, crime, environment, as well as regional and cultural partnership.
Our trade with the EU continues to grow with Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, UK, Netherlands, Italy, France and Belgium as our major export markets.
Belarus offers the EU to turn up for a new comprehensive collaboration with a political segment as an integral part of our relations.
United States. Our interest in relations with the US is a truly full-fledged cooperation. Belarus and the United States have both a good experience of cooperation before and good prospects to intensify it. Belarus invites the US to develop relations in all areas of common interest based on mutual respect.
Asia and Africa. Belarusian foreign policy in Asia and Africa sees an intensified cooperation with a string of countries that stems from similar views on most pressing issues of international agenda, as well as largely positive perception of our country in both regions.
Well-established political links with China, India, Viet Nam and other countries in South-East Asia introduce a good platform to scale up our mutual trade. China is our special foreign partner. Relations between the two countries are now clearly strategic with both Belarus and China seeking to deepen cooperation on bilateral and international agendas.
Latin America. Relations with Latin American countries acquired much higher level in recent years with most active Belarus-Venezuela cooperation. Larger political dialogue with major countries in the region, Argentina and Brazil, increasingly stimulates our economic cooperation. Traditionally, Belarus has advanced relations with Cuba.
With deeper relations with countries from Asia, Africa and Latin America, Belarus has turned up to a new much higher level of cooperation with the South.
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Supporting effective peace and security and sustainable development worldwide, Belarus is dedicated to an instrumental work in international and regional organizations.
United Nations. A founding member of the United Nations, Belarus supports UN activities, including those in development, peace and security, disarmament and non-proliferation, environment. Belarus also believes that the UN should play a coordinating role in elaboration of a global strategy and policies in fighting human trafficking and terrorism.
Since the creation of the UN, Belarus has put forward a number of initiatives in the areas of peace and security, environment, health care, science and technology that became an integral part of the UN resolutions and decisions. In particular, the outcome document of the 2005 UN Millennium Summit features two critical ideas that the Belarusian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, announced in his address to the UN Member States – stronger emphasis of international community on fighting human trafficking and recognition of the diversity to progress as a value of human civilization.
In the UN, Belarus, with the help of resolutions it initiates at the UN General Assembly, also focuses on prevention of the emergence of new types of weapons of mass destruction and attracting global resources to address consequences of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. A new item has recently occurred in Belarus’ work in the UN – to forge a cohesive multi-faceted energy agenda of the UN that would encourage wider energy efficiency and international cooperation on a global proliferation of energy technologies.
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Considered by Belarus as a key organization to ensure European security, OSCE is also a platform for our political dialogue with the West. In OSCE, Belarus supports a comprehensive cooperation together with the organization’s reform that would see a more balanced accountability of the interests of all Member States.
North-Atlantic Treaty Organization. Belarus is a member of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council and the Partnership for Peace Programme with the understanding that each country has the right to collective defense and military alliances. Our interest in relations with NATO is a step-by-step deepening of our cooperation, mainly in fighting against smuggling, illegal migration, arms trade and drug trafficking.
Non-Aligned Movement. The only European member country of the Non-Aligned Movement, Belarus considers NAM as a critical basis of the multipolar world.
Together with NAM, Belarus strenuously opposes double standards in international relations, promotes more fair international trade and integration of developing countries and countries with economies in transition into the world economy, and encourages larger recognition of country’s diversities in political systems, economic, social and cultural development.
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An active supporter of each nation’s right to its own way of development, Belarus opposes any attempts of intrusion in domestic affairs and any attempts of unilateral cohesive measures as a crackdown on countries’ sovereignty.
A donor to international security, Belarus plays an important role in formulating a new system of European security that seeks to encourage better harmonization between a holistic national defense system and larger participation of Belarus in European processes of strengthening security and stability in the region.
Belarus believes that the world order of the 21st century should be based on collective mechanisms of addressing global challenges with strong adherence to the UN Charter and international law. Real stability in international relations may be achieved only through real equality among all international actors and mutual respect together with efficient cooperation.
