AUSTRIA, November 21 - On the initiative of Austria and with participation from Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the international conference on Belarus is being held virtually in Vienna today, 22 November 2021. Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg and Foreign Minister Michael Linhart, together with Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and Olivér Várhelyi, the EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, opened the video conference to discuss ways out of the political impasse in Belarus.

The arrest of thousands of political prisoners; the exclusion of opposition members, civil society and independent media; as well as the cynical instrumentalisation of innocent migrants are unacceptable political methods to which we can no longer turn a blind eye. Instead of allowing ourselves to be held hostage to the negative spiral of political confrontation, we are making a constructive contribution to help break out of this dead-end situation,

said Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg.

The goal of the conference, which also included the foreign ministers of EU President Slovenia, Germany, Finland, Poland, Estonia, and Slovakia as well as the deputy foreign ministers of Lithuania and the Czech Republic along with the US special envoy for Belarus, is to explore the necessary elements for creating a democratic, independent, safe, and prosperous Belarus. In addition, the participants will seek ways for the country to move forward without violence and oppression.

In addition to the high-calibre opening segment, two afternoon workshops on the thematic blocks “Reforming Belarus” and “Rebuilding Belarus” offer numerous representatives of the EU member states, as well as the Eastern Partnership, international organisations, and businesspeople, an opportunity to discuss development possibilities for Belarus.

We hope that today’s international conference will represent a major step forward. Another signal that we put forward to Belarusian civil society that we have not abandoned them. We want the Belarusian people to make their own decisions, freely and without fear. A Belarus in which human rights, freedom of the media, freedom of assembly, and freedom of opinion are observed. We are not naïve – reforms do not happen overnight, but we hope this conference will be another step on the path toward a democratic, independent, prosperous, and safe Belarus,

emphasises Foreign Minister Michael Linhart.

Even in the past, Austria has often been an international advocate for sustainable and inclusive dialogue in Belarus. For instance, the development of a Belarusian draft constitution was supported with a total of fifteen international seminars on constitutional reform in Vienna, as well as two seminars, organised jointly with the think tank International Center for Advanced and Comparative EU-Russia Research (ICEUR), that included Belarusian civil society.

Even beyond today’s conference, we will continue our commitment to a free and safe Belarus,

concluded Foreign Minister Linhart.