| 10 December 2009 On 8 December, 2009 Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus Sergey Martynov took part in the consultations of the ministers for foreign affairs of the states participating in the EC’s Eastern Partnership in Brussels. This was the first meeting of the ministers with such membership following the launch of Eastern Partnership at the Prague Summit (in the Czech Republic) this spring attended by 27 states of the European Union and six partner states: Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The ministers’ discussion focused on the assessment of the progress achieved since the launch of the Partnership and determination of the prospects and priorities in implementation of the initiative in 2010. In his address the chief of the foreign affairs ministry of Belarus stressed on the importance of the Eastern Partnership initiative for regional cooperation in the Central and Eastern Europe. Mr. Martynov called on the European Union to concentrate its efforts on the activities supporting specific projects that meet the interests of partner states. The delegation of Belarus suggested that the EU should expeditiously define the procedures for review and approval of projects within the framework of the Partnership, as well as speed up involvement of international and European financial organizations in implementation of these projects. The minister from Belarus and his counterparts from Lithuania and Ukraine submitted to the European Commission an agreed list of projects proposed for implementation within the framework of the Eastern Partnership. Representatives of the EU states, European Commission, EC Council, European Parliament and other EC institutions were informed about specific proposals of Belarus concerning possible short-term steps by the EU towards maximum utilization of the potential of the Eastern Partnership in relations with Belarus. At the same time, the minister from Belarus mentioned the decisions made by the EC Council on November 17, 2009 as opening the possibility of transition towards relaxation of the visa regime and reduction of the cost of visa procedures. Chief of the foreign affairs ministry of Belarus had bilateral meetings with foreign ministers for Germany and Poland. A number of working meetings with counterparts from the states participating in the Eastern partnership and EU states were held.
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