BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

27/04/2009

Belarus President Visits Vatican, Meets Pope

(RTTNews) - Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko on Monday held talks with Pope Benedict XVI in Vatican, marking his first visit to Western Europe after the EU imposed a travel ban on him in 1999 over alleged abuses of democratic and human rights in the former Soviet bloc nation.

Lukashenko's first official visit to Western Europe since 1995 comes after the European Union lifted its travel ban on Belarusian president and other top Belarusian officials in October after the former Soviet nation bowed to international pressure and several political prisoners in 2008 August.

The Vatican said in a statement on Monday that President Lukashenko's talks with the Pope lasted almost half an hour, adding that talks that covered "internal problems" in the former Soviet nation were conducted in a "positive" atmosphere.

Earlier in the month, the European Union had invited President Lukashenko to attend a EU summit in May, which is aimed at developing the European bloc's energy and trade links with six former Soviet states, including Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

The EU invitation to the Belarusian President to attend the Prague summit signals the recent warming in the EU-Belarus ties, and comes after EU suspended the travel ban on Lukashenko and other top Belarusian officials, saying that the move was an attempt to encourage democratic reform in the former Soviet republic.

Source:

http://news.ino.com/headlines/?newsid=42720091261

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