16 March 2002
Sister city forum in Brest yields agreements

 Representatives of 21 Belarusian and 26 Polish cities have signed cultural and economic cooperation agreements during the sister city forum, which opened in Brest on March 13.
Brest signed agreements with Lublin and Terespol, its partners for several years, Minsk is expected to sign a cooperation accord with Warsaw.
Minsk and Lodz agreed to organize Belarusian journalists' trip to Lodz, arrange recuperation for disabled children in Poland, and display Polish films and works of art in Minsk. Minsk mayor Mikhail Pavlov, chairman of the Belarusian Sister City Association which organized the event,
suggested that the Poles should "lobby" not only cultural but also economic interests of their Belarusian partners. "I am very glad to be here. This is a very good beginning, which should strengthen ties among administrative centers," Mariusz Maszkiewicz, the Polish ambassador to Belarus, told BelaPAN of the forum.