Belarus' foreign ministry posts 2021 foreign policy review

According to the review, last year Belarus' foreign policy was largely influenced by the further aggravation of geopolitical and geo-economic situation in the region and the world, as well as the growing destabilization of international security. “A number of countries expanded unilateral restrictive measures and ratcheted up economic pressure to achieve their goals, which increased tension in interstate relations, created additional obstacles to international trade and hampered efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic that retains its impact on international processes,” the review reads.

“In the context of growing external pressure and overt interference of Western states in the domestic affairs of Belarus, in 2021 the country focused on defending and strengthening national sovereignty and security, conceptually rethinking the priorities of foreign policy and foreign economic policy while sticking to the multi-pronged policy principle,” the document reads. In particular, Belarus intensified cooperation with the strategic ally Russia within the Union State, as well as in the EAEU and the CIS both on a multilateral and bilateral basis, including within the framework of Belarus' presidency in the CIS. Belarus stepped up cooperation with distant countries, with a focus on China that is viewed as a strategic partner.

“The work continued to promote the country's economic interests and counter political, economic and informational pressure of the West and to minimize the damage from its sanctions against Belarus,” the review reads.