EU invites Belarus FM to landmark meeting

(BRUSSELS) - The European Union has invited Belarus's foreign minister to meet his EU counterparts on October 13, the first invite since the bloc slapped sanctions on Minsk in 2006, a spokeswoman said Friday.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana "spoke this morning with (Belarus Foreign Minister Sergei) Martinov and invited him to come to Luxembourg on October 13," Solana's spokeswoman Cristina Gallach said.

The EU had raised the prospect of such a meeting ahead of last weekend's general elections in Belarus along with the possibility of lifting sanctions against hardline President Alexander Lukashenko's regime.

Even if the results of the election -- swept by Lukashenko loyalists -- were deemed "disappointing" by the EU and criticised by Western observers, the bloc highlighted some "positive developments which preceded the vote".

Those included the release of political prisoners and an invitation to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe to monitor the polls.

The European Union has been seeking a way to reach out to what it sees as a key state at the outer reaches of Western and Russian influence, especially in the wake of Moscow's conflict with Georgia, where EU monitors are deployed.

Forty Belarussian figures, including Lukashenko, have been banned from entering the EU since the 2006 presidential election which was judged to contravene international norms.

Of all the 27 EU nations, Poland and Lithuania, neighbours of Belarus and particularly anti-Moscow, have been pushing the hardest to get the sanctions lifted.

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has made the comparison with Cuba, noting that the EU has lifted its sanctions there despite the fact that Havana is still holding political prisoners.

The Lithuanian foreign ministry has said that the elections do not change the fact that dialogue with Belarus is "indispensable".

Both countries are likely to call at the meeting for a selective review of the sanctions in place and other measures of encouragement in the form of visa facilitation and scholarships, according to European diplomats.