Belarus wants closer ties with EU: foreign minister

(HELSINKI) - Belarussian Foreign Minister Sergei Martynov said Tuesday his country wants to improve its relations with the European Union and is committed to making reforms.

"We believe that what we are doing together with the European Union benefits Belarus. We are making (changes) consistently and we will continue to make them," Martynov told reporters in Helsinki after meeting with his Finnish counterpart Alexander Stubb.

The country has been ruled in an authoritarian fashion since 1994 by President Alexander Lukashenko, once famously dubbed "Europe's last dictator" by Washington.

The EU has repeatedly demanded improvement on human rights in Belarus and called for regime opponents to be able to operate freely.

But during the past year, the EU has switched to a policy of engagement, which has been seen as an effort to pull Belarus out of Russia's orbit. It lifted a travel ban on Lukashenko last October and then brought the country into its Eastern Partnership plan.

Martynov said he hoped the EU would cancel the remaining visa sanctions against Belarus next month, but Stubb made no promises and said EU foreign ministers would discuss the issue in November.

"Progress has been evident, but there is no space for backtracking," Stubb said, urging Belarus to embrace democracy and continue reforms to improve its human rights record.

Stubb also stressed that the EU and Finland were strongly against the death penalty, which is not abolished in Belarus.

When asked about plans for Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan to join the World Trade Organization as a single customs union, Martynov said the countries had started consultations with the WTO in Geneva on Tuesday.

Western trade officials have not been too keen on the plan, but Belarus remains optimistic.

"According to our humble estimates, if this goes right, we could complete this process in two, three years time, as a joint team," Martynov said.