Office for a Democratic Belarus Belarus Headlines Issue L February 18, 2010 EU and Belarus Share Knowledge in Brussels and in Minsk come participation of ex- perts from both civil society initiatives and state and gov- ernment institutions. On February 4, the Office for a Democratic Belarus, in close cooperation with the EU Office for a Democratic Delegation in Minsk, the Bel- Belarus arusian Institute for Strategic Studies (BISS) and with fi- nancial support of the Swed- Inside this issue: ish International Development Agency (SIDA), organized a EU-Belarus 1-2 round table discussion on sharing “EU and Belarus transport knowledge. ODB On February 1-5, 2010, on an opportunity to exchange policy: sharing knowledge”. organises one the invitation of the Office views on Energy issues with The event took place in for Democratic Belarus, a fellow experts from Visegrad Minsk and brought together study-visit and group of Belarusian experts countries. experts from the European two round-tables on energy visited Brussels. Commission, the Lithuanian in Minsk The delegation, which in- The topics covered in the pro- Ministry of Foreign Affairs, cluded representatives from gramme included EU-Belarus the Academy of Science of EU and Belarus 2-4 the State Belarusian Tech- relations, renewable energy the Republic of Belarus, vari- nical University, the Bela- sources, energy efficiency, and ous research institutions, en- Politics and 4-6 rusian National Academy energy security, the Eastern trepreneurs, representatives of Society of Sciences and state insti- Partnership Initiative, and the the analytical community, independent and state media tutions, took part in a train- state of the nuclear energy Finance and 6-8 research in the EU. agencies. The event was also ing course, entitled “EU attended by the former Minis- Economy Energy Policy: Sharing The programme also included ter of Transport, Uladzimir Knowledge with Belarus”. 9-11 a visit to Electrawinds – a Sasnouski. Mysterious During the visit, the Belaru- Belarus company that comprises a sian delegates had a chance number of biosteam and bio- Three sessions of the confer- ence were dedicated to ques- to get acquainted with the fuel plants in Oostende and is tions of the current state of Salamieja work of various EU Institu- currently the largest private Piĺštynova tions and meet key experts the EU-Belarus cooperation player on the Belgian renew- in the area of transport and on energy issues and East- able energy market. Belarusian Dr. ern Europe at the Director- future perspectives, develop- th House of the 17 ate-General (DG) for Exter- This visit is part of a larger ment and modernization of century nal Relations and the DG programme for Belarusian the national transport system in Belarus, harmonization of for Research of the Euro- experts, which is being imple- Belarusian transport policy pean Commission, the En- mented by the Office for a with EU regulations. We on the Web ergy Charter, and the Euro- Democratic Belarus supported pean Parliament. On the by the Danish Ministry of For- According to Valiantsina www.democraticbelarus.eu invitation of the Permanent eign Affairs (DMFA). Candi- Liavonchyk, deputy chair- Representation of the Slo- dates for the participation in woman of the Belarusian Un- vak Republic to the Euro- this programme are selected ion of Transport Workers, the pean Union, the Belarusian through an open call for appli- integration of Belarus’ trans- group of experts also had cations. The organisers wel- port system into the EU PAGE 2 BELARUS HEADLINES ISSUE L Our Activities EU and Belarus Share Knowledge in Brussels and in Minsk Sasnouski stressed the urgent need for of the Ministry of Education, Mr action in the field of public transport and Shautsou, informed the audience that the establishment of contacts with the Belarus is ready to join the initiative Brussels-based International Association in 2010. However, he noted, due to on Public Transport. the common state with Russia, norms Round table on questions of cooperation and standards of higher education in between Belarus and EU in the field of Belarus have to be coordinated with higher education took place in Minsk on the Russian ones. Independent ex- February 6. It presented an opportunity perts argued that the new legislation structure is not possible without har- for extensive discussion on EU-funded on higher education that is in the monisation of its legislative norms with programmes that are currently opened for process of development contains international standards, ratification of Belarus and the projects that are being some "anti-Bologna" provisions. implemented in their framework. In addi- conventions and participation of Belarus The round table "EU and Belarus in various international transport unions tion, Belarusian and EU experts ex- and associations. changed their views on formal and infor- Policy: Sharing Knowledge" was mal education, crisis of higher education organised by the Office for a Democ- In the concluding session of the event, and the need for reforms in this sector, as ratic Belarus in close cooperation Uladzimir Sasnouski said he hoped well as problems related to protection of with the EU representation office in this round table would give a good the intellectual property in Belarus. Minsk, the Belarusian Institute for start to the process of dialogue among different stakeholders that deal with Among other topics, participants of the Strategic Studies (BISS) and with transport in Belarus. event from leading state and private uni- financial support of the Danish Min- versities of Belarus, the Ministry of Edu- istry of Foreign Affairs. One should look for effective mecha- cation, various non-governmental or- nisms of dialogue, he said, both inside ganisations and think tanks, experts of 08/02/2010 the country and with foreign partners. the European Commission and journal- He also expressed his gratitude to the ists actively discussed the issue of Bela- Source: ODB organizers for the attention dedicated rus' readiness for joining the Bologna Photos by ODB to the given field and called for con- process. Deputy chief of the department tinuation of the programme. Uladzimir on higher and special technical education EU and Belarus Hungarian MPs Visit Belarus after 20-year Gap On 4 February 2009, a Hungarian Hungary, which is a member of the for talks with his Belarusian counter- parliamentary delegation arrived in Visegrad Four grouping, to support this parts. Belarus with a two-day visit to boost interest. He also welcomed Hungary's During these talks, which took place bilateral relations. initiative to organise a meeting between on 11-12 February 2010, the two sides the Visegrad Four and Belarusian parlia- focused on the development of eco- This was the first time after two dec- mentarians in February, reports Belta. nomic, trade and cultural relations. ades that a parliamentary delegation Amid great interest of the local press had visited the country. They are there Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, Ana- Mr Faller and Belarusian Deputy For- to return a visit to their Belarusian tol Rubinau, who is also Deputy Chair- eign Minister Valery Varanetski counterparts who were in Budapest in man of the Belarus-Hungary friendship signed a protocol on concrete objec- March last year. society, said relations between the two tives of this year’s bilateral coopera- countries were "free of serious disputes tion. The State Secretary’s consulta- tion in Minsk meanwhile prepared the "Belarus' interest is to become a full- or differences of opinion in the assess- official visit to Budapest by Belaru- fledged member of the parliamentary ment of current events". He added that chapter of the EU's Eastern Partner- there was an open dialogue based on sian Foreign Minister Syarhei Marty- ship programme," Speaker of the mutual trust. nau scheduled for 1 March 2010. Council of the Republic of Belarus Barys Batura told the Hungarian dele- Hungarian State Secretary of Foreign 05-12/02/2009 gation. He asked his colleagues from Ministry Jenő Faller also visited Minsk Source: ERB, ODB PAGE 3 BELARUS HEADLINES ISSUE L EU and Belarus “Ways ahead: Eastern Partnership as a window of opportunity for Belarus” According to Alexan- Eugeniusz Smolar of the Centre for der Strelkov from the International Relations (Warsaw) Institute of Europe of noticed that the EU prioritizes the the Russian Academy Eastern Partnership program given its of Sciences amazing pace. (Moscow), Russian politicians and ex- Olga Stuzhinskaya, the Director of perts perceive the the Office for Democratic Belarus Eastern Partnership (Brussels), argued that although it is as an initiative threat- too early to evaluate the overall im- ening Russia’s influ- pact of the Eastern Partnership, it is ence in the post- already clear that the programme has Soviet region. More- had a positive impact on the status of over, according to Belarus in the international relations. Olga Stuzhinakaya, Uladzislau Vialichka, Roland Freudenstein Strelkov, Russia does not possess a clear Uladzislau Vialichka from the Inter- The Belarusian Institute for Strategic stance towards the activation of external national Consortium EuraBelarus, Studies (BISS), under the patronage EU politics. Roland Freudenstein from highlighted the fact that Eastern Part- of the Delegation of the European the Centre for European Studies nership intensified the work of Bela- Union in Belarus and in co-operation (Brussels) addressed the issue of Belaru- rusian NGO’s and motivated them for with the