PHOTO: OSCE PA Silk Road Support Group.
The final declaration of the 2nd International Conference of the OSCE PA Silk Road Support Group "Belt and Road: strengthening cooperation for sustainable development and prosperity" was adopted in Minsk on 29 April.
The final declaration outlined areas of work which represent the mutual interest for the Silk Road Support Group member states. The document does not contain conditions and is based on good will of the states.
Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus Boleslav Pirshtuk stated that the issues raised at the international parliamentary conference in Minsk were consonant with the themes touched upon at the 2nd Belt and Road Forum of International Cooperation in Beijing last week. The two events were held in unison, and the initiatives and proposals voiced at the highest level will be consolidated in the parliamentary dimension and legislation, the vice speaker said.
The first conference of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's Silk Road Support Group took place in Azerbaijan in March 2018. The purpose of the Minsk event was to present economic and investment capabilities of Belarus as an important hub of the Silk Road Economic Belt. The Minsk conference was attended by MPs and business representatives from Austria, Azerbaijan, Italy, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Russia, Serbia, Turkey, and Switzerland. The OSCE PA Silk Road Support Group was set up at the 26th Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Minsk in 2017.
The group is designed to expand the areas of cooperation and strengthen political, economic and cultural relations between the participating states. The group plays a role of a platform to promote mutually beneficial economic and trade ties, in particular through promoting connectivity and developing transport corridors, transport and trade facilitation measures, promoting free and secure movement of persons, goods, services and investments.
PHOTO: Agencja Gazeta/Slawomir Kaminski/via REUTERS. (Front row, left to right) Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila, Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, chairman of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Cyprus Dimitris Siluris, Prime Minister of Malta Joseph Muscat, (back row, left to right) Estonia's Prime Minister Juri Ratas, European Commission Vice President Jyrki Katainen, Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics, Deputy Prime Minister of Slovakia Richard Rasi, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, Lithuania's Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis, Czech Republic's Prime Minister Andrej Babis, Slovenian Foreign Minister Miro Cerar, Poland's Foreign Minister Jacek Czputowicz pose for family photo during Together for Europe summit on May 1, 2019.
The Together for Europe Summit in Warsaw convened its opening session on May 1, 2019.
The occasion for the summit, initiated by Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, is the 15th anniversary of the beginning of the great enlargement of the European Union.
Heads of State and Government of Poland, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia met to discuss the state of the EU and security challenges facing the Community. The focus of the discussions revolved around the opportunity for even more intensive cooperation between the countries on the development of the European Union.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that the 13 newcomer countries to the EU want Brussels to return more power to national capitals. He also rejected the notion of a ‘multi-speed’ Europe that would allow groups of member states to press ahead with deeper cooperation in certain chosen policy areas.
Poland is by far the largest of the countries that joined the EU in 2004. The others are Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Cyprus and Malta. Bulgaria and Romania joined in 2007 and Croatia in 2013.
PHOTO: BelTA. Member of the Serbia-Belarus parliamentary friendship group Stefana Miladinovic (left) and Chairman of the Council of Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus Mikhail Myasnikovich (right).
Belarus supports the idea of creating a free trade zone between the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and Serbia and will help advance these negotiations, said Chairman of the Council of Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus Mikhail Myasnikovich as he met with a delegation of the Serbian parliament on April 30. The Serbian delegation was led by Stefana Miladinovic, a member of the Serbia-Belarus parliamentary friendship group.
Speaker Myasnikovich stressed that Belarus supports the initiative of creating a free trade zone between the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and Serbia. “We are going to facilitate more dynamic advancement of the negotiations on the EAEU-Serbia free trade zone agreement,” he noted.
The speaker of the upper chamber of the Belarusian parliament mentioned a decrease in Belarus-Serbia trade and suggested new forms of cooperation. He suggested moving away from simple trade to a more vigorous investment partnership and the creation of joint companies. He also mentioned that investment projects, which had been discussed during the latest meeting with the Serbian delegation, are being implemented.
The speaker also discussed the importance of the international parliamentary conference of the Silk Road Support Group of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA) hosted in Minsk. Both parties agreed that the Silk Road transport corridor would be beneficial for both Belarus and Serbia.
Stefana Miladinovic spoke about the role of China-Belarus industrial park Great Stone, and said that Belarus’ experience is very useful for Serbia where a similar industrial park is supposed to be built. She expressed her confidence that Belarus-Serbia bilateral ties would grow stronger in the future. “We maintain good relations, share common traditions and values. Our partnership stems from kind and open relations between the heads of states,” she noted.
PHOTO: AP/Heng Sinith. Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen (left) reviews an honor guard with Myanmar’s State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Tuesday, April 30, 2019.
Aung San Suu Kyi paid a three-day official visit to Cambodia this week, marking her first trip to the Southeast Asian nation. Suu Kyi arrived from Beijing, where both she and Hun Sen attended a forum about China's multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative. Representatives of 37 countries were at the meeting on the massive infrastructure-building plan.
The two representatives have agreed to promote and expand commercial, educational, cultural, and tourism ties between the two countries.
According to a summary of the meetings published on Hun Sen’s Facebook page on Tuesday, Suu Kyi said: “regarding cultural issues, in 2020, it will be the 65th anniversary of the formation of relations of the two countries, so we shall jointly organize an auspicious activity, promoting tourism between the countries; particularly, in Siem Reap and Bagan provinces, which are rich in temple heritages.”
Regarding education, Hun Sen requested an exchange program for students of Cambodia and Myanmar under the support of the two governments.
Hun Sen also pledged to offer 10 scholarships to Myanmar, paving the way for the students of Myanmar to come to study in Cambodia.
Additionally, Hun Sen requested a review of double taxation. The two sides also discussed the expansion of trade.
Both Aung San Suu Kyi and Hun Sen “agreed to promote these important sectors and agreed to offer confidence to relevant ministers of the two countries to continue working on these issues.”
Myanmar and Cambodia both have a history of standing apart from the major powers, especially in the 1950s and 1960s. They established diplomatic relations in 1955, the same year both participated in the 29-nation Afro-Asian Conference.
BY MSEAP Cyber Secretariat (mseap@assembly.go.kr) |
