🌏 On September 25, a ministerial meeting marking the start of negotiations on drafting the Eurasian Charter of Diversity and Multipolarity in the 21st Century took place at Russia’s Permanent Mission to the UN in New York on the sidelines of the High-Level Week of the 81st Session of the UN General Assembly*.

The meeting was co-chaired by Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Foreign Minister of Belarus Maxim Ryzhenkov.

👉 Sergey Lavrov's opening remarks

In their remarks, the Foreign Ministers of Belarus and Russia noted that negotiations on the Charter’s text would help build an atmosphere of trust and identify common approaches to addressing security challenges across Eurasia, based on a balance of interests of all states involved.

In this context, the Charter is intended to enshrine principles of interstate security cooperation in Eurasia in the era of #Multipolarity, including equal and indivisible security and the responsibility of the continent’s countries for addressing regional security challenges, as well as lay the foundations for a new architecture of international relations.

🤝 The Ministers emphasised that the Charter aims to strengthen economic cooperation and connectivity, develop humanitarian ties, support dialogue among civilisations and establish mechanisms for decision-making on an equal footing in the interests of Eurasian countries and peoples.

The meeting brought together representatives of various Eurasian states. In their remarks, participants welcomed the joint initiative of Belarus and Russia and confirmed their countries’ interest in taking part in the forthcoming negotiations.

👉 The meeting concluded with the adoption of a Joint Statement on the Inauguration of Negotiations on Drafting the Eurasian Charter and the approval of the Terms of Reference of the Working Group of the Working Group tasked with drafting the Charter.

*Unofficial translation