Belarussian cooperation forthcoming

VILNIUS- In the Šalčininkai district on July 15, Lithuanian Minister of ForeignAffairs Petras Vaitiekūnas met with mayor Leonardas Talmontas and discussed thepreparedness of the district to use the funds of the European Neighborhood andPartnership Instrument for cross-border cooperation.

The use of these funds would encourage cooperation between Lithuania and Belarusas Å alčininkai is the first EU town that visitors would enter from Belarus, addingan additional responsibility to the area.  

Representatives from the Šalčininkai district community and municipalityshowed interest in negotiations with Belarus, especially in the agreementon local border traffic, important for border residents.

P.VaitiekÅ«nas and the district mayor,  found one of the possible fields of cooperationbetween the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Å alčininkai municipality might bethe implementation of the development cooperation and democracy promotionprojects. They also discussed the ways to promote cultural cooperation withBelarusian border area municipalities and the city of Lida, as well as the promotion of investmentinto the region.