Sectoral cooperation

Before the introduction of the EU restrictions, one of the important areas of cooperation were sectoral dialogues, which were carried out in the field of customs, environmental protection, economics and finance, foreign trade.

In 2017, Belarus, in good faith, conducted stress tests of the Belarusian NPP based on the European methodology; in 2018, the process of partner assessment of the results of stress tests by the European Union was completed. In 2020, our country, in the spirit of openness, continued, together with the European side, the peer review of the National Action Plan based on the results of the stress tests of the Belarusian NPP.

Belarus was invited to participate in the work of the European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group (ENSREG) as an observer. Due to politicization of energy cooperation in the spring of 2022, ENSREG decided to suspend the participation of Belarus in the meetings of this body, that made important issues of nuclear safety dependent on the political situation in the EU.

Until 2020, Belarus interacted with the EU within the framework of technical assistance programs. EU funding has made an important contribution to the development of the state border of Belarus and neighboring EU member states, modernization of border and customs infrastructure, exchange of best practices and implementation of pilot projects in energy, transport, agri-food, environmental, educational, cultural and other priority areas in the interests of ordinary people. 

At the end of 2020, the EU suspended most of the technical assistance projects and sectoral cooperation formats. Belarus remains interested in maintaining and developing sectoral cooperation in areas of mutual interest, further attracting technical assistance in the interests of citizens.