MINSK, November 24. /TASS/. Minsk has called on member countries of the Central European Initiative (CEI) to expand cooperation with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).

Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makey, who paid a working visit to Vienna on Monday, attended a summit meeting of the heads of government of Central European Initiative member states, where he stressed the importance “of further development of regional cooperation to prevent the emergence of new division lines in Europe.”

“The Belarusian foreign minister spoke in favor of CEI’s expanding its relations with other regional organizations, including the CIS and the Eurasian Economic Union,” the press service of the Belarusian foreign ministry said.

Apart from that, while in Vienna, Makey had a bilateral meeting with Sebastian Kurz, Austria’s Federal Minister for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs. The two ministers discussed the current state of and prospects for further development of the Belarusian-Austrian relations in the political, economic and other spheres, relations between Belarus and the European Union, the press service said.

The Belarusian foreign minister also had talks with Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano. “The sides noted the high level of cooperation between Belarus and the International Atomic Energy Agency. Special attention was focused on the use of the package of the agency’s services for state that are building their first nuclear power plants,” the Belarusian foreign ministry said. Makey “stressed Belarus’ openness and Minsk’s commitment to closer cooperation with the IAEA.”

Founded in 1989, the Central European Initiative is a regional intergovernmental forum committed to supporting European integration through cooperation among its member states. It combines multilateral diplomacy and project management, both as donor and recipient, while bridging European macro-regions. As of today, the CEI sees its key goal in promoting European integration and creating favourable conditions for states that are not yet members of the European Union but committed to principles of parliamentary democracy and human rights. The CEI has 18 member states, namely Albania, Austria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Moldavia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine.