MEDIA ADVISORY

Council of Europe and the EU Delegation to present joint projects in Belarus for 2019-2021

Minsk, 03.10.2019 – On Tuesday, 8 October, the Council of Europe and the Delegation of the European Union will present to media in Minsk their joint projects in Belarus for the period 2019 – 2021. The presentation will be part of the first meeting of the Local Steering Committee under the second phase of the Partnership for Good Governance programme.

Three projects will be implemented in Belarus between 2019 and 2021, with a total budget of 870,000 euros, funded by the EU (80%) and Council of Europe (20%). These projects will assist Belarussian authorities in countering money-laundering and terrorism financing as well as strengthening the right to a fair trial in Belarusian criminal justice and supporting the civil justice reforms in Belarus.

In addition to these country-specific projects, Belarus is also taking part of four regional projects aimed at fighting against economic crimes, strengthening the profession of lawyers, combatting discrimination and facilitating access of women to justice with a total budget of 2.4 million euros.

Arkadi Sytine, PGG Co-ordinator, Programming Department, Office of the Directorate General for Programmes, Council of Europe (Strasbourg); Andrei Bushilo, Head of the European Co-operation Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus and a representative of the European Union Delegation to Belarus will present the projects and reply to questions from media representatives.

The presentation will take place at 14:00am local time on Tuesday, 8 October 2019, at President Hotel, VIP Conference Hall, Kirova str. 18. The meeting will be open to media between 14:00 and 14:30. English-Russian interpretation will be provided.

Prior accreditation of media representatives is requested.

Contact person for accreditation: Tatiana Baeva, +33 388 41 21 41.

Background:

In April 2014, the European Union and the Council of Europe agreed that targeted co-operation activities with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus – the EU’s Eastern Partnership countries – would be implemented under the Partnership for Good Governance programme. The phase I of the programme (PGGI) started in 2015 and was completed in 2018; the second phase of the programme (PGGII) was launched in 2019 and will run until 2021.

These co-operation activities aim to strengthen the capacity of the Eastern Partnership countries, which are member States of the Council of Europe, with the exception of Belarus, to implement domestic reforms to bring them closer to European standards in the fields of human rights, democracy and the rule of law.

For more information on the Council of Europe Partnership for Good Governance

For more information about  Belarus country-specific projects