MINSK, January 4. /TASS/. In 2017, Belarus stayed committed to strategic cooperation with Russia and concurrently took steps to build constructive relations with the European Union and the United States, the Belarusian foreign ministry said on Thursday in an annual foreign policy review.

"In conditions of mistrust between Russia and the West, Belarus, on the one hand, stayed committed to strategic partnership with Russia, to integration within the Eurasian Economic Union and traditional cooperation with the member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the Commonwealth of Independent States," the ministry said.

On the other hand, according to the document, "Belarus continued to build constructive and pragmatic relations with the European Union, the United States and other Western countries."

As concerns Belarusian-Russian cooperation, the year 2017 saw "intensive top-level contacts, efficient inter-parliamentary and intergovernmental cooperation," the ministry noted. "Relations had a comprehensive character."

According to the Belarusian foreign ministry, Russia remained the country’s key trade and investment partner. Apart from that, the sides continued to work out joint measures "to remove obstacles in mutual trade" and liberalize business environment.

The Belarusian and Russian foreign ministries "coordinated their actions traditionally closely, which helped consolidate the two countries’ positions on the international arena," the ministry stressed.