Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus Y.Ambrazevich holds meetings in Geneva

On June 13, 2023 the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yuri Ambrazevich, met with the Deputy Director-General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Amy Pope, elected as the head of the Organization, who will take over this post on October 1, 2023.

The parties discussed a wide range of issues between Belarus and IOM with particular attention to the topic of combating human trafficking. The parties agreed to further cooperation on the anti-trafficking agenda.

Concurring opinion regarding the impact of migration and mobility on the sustainable economic development of states was given.

Y.Ambrazevich brought to the IOM’s attention the position of Belarus on the current situation with illegal migration through the Belarusian territory to Western Europe. He expressed concern about potential summer escalation of the problem and absence of any interaction of Poland, Lithuania and Latvia with the government of Belarus on this issue, which cannot be solved only by the efforts of Minsk.

Deputy Foreign Minister also met with the Director General of the UN Office in Geneva, Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament and Personal Representative of the UN Secretary General, Tatyana Valovaya.

During the discussion, Y.Ambrazevich and T.Valovaya reaffirmed their conviction that there was a need to counteract the degradation of the international security system by strengthening of multilateral institutions and negotiation platforms.

The interlocutors talked over causes and ways out from the current international security crisis, including in the context of the situation in Ukraine. The Belarusian diplomat stressed the importance of peaceful ways of resolving this conflict.

Y.Ambrazevich informed T.Valovaya about the high-level international conference on Eurasian security to be held Belarus in October 2023 and invited her to visit Belarus and to make a speech at the conference.

Deputy Minister brought to the attention of the leadership of the UN, the IOM, as well as the day before at the meeting in the ICRC, UNHCR and the OHCHR, a concern in connection with artificial politicization by a number of states and destructive public organizations, operating in these countries, of the issue of fulfillment by Belarus of its international obligations and, in particular, in the field of international humanitarian law. He emphasized the total groundlessness of such a position.

Particular attention of the interlocutors was attracted to growing politicization of the topic of children on the international agenda, including the Belarusian practice of receiving children from other countries for rehabilitation in summer camps in Belarus, called upon the UN to be guided in its work exclusively by first-hand information and underlined the openness of the Belarusian government in this issue.

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