Belarus is ready for the development of cooperation with the European Union in the framework of technical aid projects in spheres that are of mutual interest, Dzmitry Mironchyk, spokesman for the Belarusian foreign ministry, told BelaPAN.
He was commenting on a report that said that the European Union had donated a total of €94.2 million to Belarus in the framework its European Neighborhood Instrument (ENI) between 2007 and 2013.
Mr. Mironchyk said that technical aid was needed in many areas, from border infrastructure to environment.
"Our country has put to use technical aid agreed upon with the EU in the framework of the national programs of the European Neighborhood Instrument in full," he said.
Mr. Mironchyk also explained the discrepancy between the amounts of EU aid programmed and committed in the seven-year period.
"According to the EU`s practice, an amount programmed in the framework of the ENI for a certain period is actually provided in the course of several years," he said. "For instance, the Belarusian-EU agreement on the ENI for Belarus in 2007 is signed in 2008 and is implemented for several years starting 2009. That`s why in EU statistics amounts programmed and committed in the same year are actually related to programs of different periods and cannot be compared."
