Minsk - Belarusian and Kazakhstan have agreed to jointly counter attempts to use human rights issues for exerting political pressure, the Belarusian president's press office told Interfax, summing up the results of the talks between the two countries' leaders.
"The parties shall provide mutual assistance on international platforms on the human rights issue, jointly counter attempts to use the issue of human rights as a mechanism of political pressure," according to a statement signed by the Belarusian and Kazakh presidents.
Also, "close cooperation will continue within the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) for the purpose of further advancement of the common goals and initiatives aimed at rectifying the existing imbalances and raising the efficiency of this Organization," the document said. "The focus will be on the OSCE international regulations and adoption of the Organization’s founding document, ensuring the transparency of its institutions and field presences, and election monitoring by the OSCE," the statement said.
"In their joint statement, the parties stress the affinity of their views on key international and regional issues, reaffirm their commitment to joint efforts aimed at combating human trafficking and call for the need to tackle global environmental issues," the statement said.
"The document also notes satisfaction with the multi-vector nature of the measures being taken to implement the strategy aimed at developing the bilateral trade and economic cooperation," the press office said. "To deepen the Kazakh-Belarusian partnership in the trade, economic, scientific, technological, cultural, humanitarian and other spheres, the parties have agreed to step up their work of using both countries’ potential to the full, and ordered their respective governments to focus their efforts on a number of priorities in the near term," the press office said
"In their joint statement, the parties acknowledged the progress in the Kazakh-Belarusian relationship based on strategic partnership," the press office said. "The parties have confirmed that its further deepening is a foreign policy priority for both countries," the Belarusian president’s press office said.
