Belarus Offers to Become 'Link' in Talks between Non-Aligned Movement and CIS Countries

Belarus is willing to provide the link in talks between the non-aligned movement and CIS countries on urgent present-day problems. This was announced by Belarus Foreign Minister Mikhail Khvostov at a non-aligned movement summit in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, February 24. Mr Khvostov said that a dialogue between nations and civilizations should be fundamental to the activity of the non-aligned movement.

As a Rosbalt correspondent was informed by the Belarus Foreign Ministry, Mr Khvostov said that the non-aligned movement summit was of especial importance for the Belarus delegation. 'It is the first summit of the non-aligned movement where Belarus has taken part as a full member,' the minister explained. 'By working with the movement, Belarus aims to help destroy the walls of distrust that exist between different states and nations,' he added. In Mr Khvostov's opinion globalisation will have a substantial influence on the work of the non-aligned movement over the next few years. 'Taking into account our current technical and economic potential, cooperation with Belarus could be of real benefit to those countries which are part of the non-aligned movement,' said Mr Khvostov. 'Our participation in the movement will bring many possibilities for bilateral trade with other members,' he went on to say.

The Belarus Foreign Minister proposed to help the non-aligned movement to improve world trade. 'There should be equal, non-discriminatory conditions for countries with transitional economies to join the World Trade Organisation,' he emphasised. 'We believe this is far more important than providing these countries with financial assistance.'

In terms of Iraq, the Belarus Foreign Minister claimed that the non-aligned movement must remain 'a staunch supporter of continued weapons inspections and only support political means of resolving the crisis.'

The non-aligned movement is a union of nations whose foreign policy is based on non-participation in political and military blocs. In 1992 there were 108 member states in the movement.