Congress President Anders KNAPE met with the President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander LUKASHENKO on 29 April 2019, in Minsk. Welcoming the interest of the Belarusian authorities to improve local self-government, President KNAPE underlined the Congress readiness to support the current process in this area. President LUKHASHENKO emphasized that Belarus had its vision of the development of local governance while benefiting from good practices in European countries.
“We will make progress towards greater autonomy of local authorities, and close contacts between local authorities and relevant bodies of the Council of Europe are an efficient tool in realising our plans. Belarus hopes to develop contacts with the Council of Europe with regards to local governance,” he said.
President KNAPE also met Chairman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus, Mr Mikhail MASNIKOVICH, with Mr POPKOV, Chairman of the Belarus Council of the Republic committee on regional policy and local self-government.
In the margins of these meetings, Congress members and experts participated in a round table and a meeting organised with the Council of Co-operation of Local Self-Government Authorities under the Council of Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus, both devoted to “Improving the legislation of the Republic of Belarus on self-government issues”. The participants discussed the situation of local self-government in Belarus, in the light of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, and the functioning of associations of local and regional authorities.
The Congress members and experts shared the experience in their respective countries in the implementation of domestic self-government laws, as well as regarding the role and contribution of the associations of local and regional authorities to improving the local self-government system and legislation.
- Video of the meeting - Youtube
