Minsk hopes for Warsaw’s support in signing basic agreement with EU

Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski will make an official visit to Minsk next week. Minsk hopes to expand pragmatic cooperation by offering Polish business an entry point to the Eurasian market. The Belarusian authorities also hope for Warsaw’s support in adopting the framework agreement between the EU and Belarus, re-inclusion in the EU general system of trade preferences and the WTO accession. Minsk has recently tried to avoid tension with the Polish minority, and looks forward to Warsaw softening its rhetoric on this issue. Besides traditional issues of economic cooperation the Belarusian authorities are likely to insist that Warsaw abandons its attempts to influence domestic political situation in Belarus, ie to support the Belarusian opposition and independent media, the largest of which broadcast from Poland (BelSAT, radio Racyja).