15 December 2003
Belarus, Poland to open 7 checkpoints for border residents
Belarus and Poland will open seven checkpoints for border area residents by the new tourist season. Agreement to that effect was reached at a meeting of Belarusian and Polish officials in Kamenets, Brest region, on December 12.
Aleksandr Mikhnevich, Belarus' deputy foreign minister and co-chairman of the Belarusian-Polish committee on cross-border cooperation, said that the seven checkpoints include six that were closed in May and one checkpoint in the Grodno region will open for traffic along the Avgustovsky (Awgustowski) Canal.
A checkpoint in the Kamenets district and the Avgustovsky checkpoint will have the international status, while the rest will have the interstate status, Mr. Mikhnevich noted. Travelers would be able to cross the border on boats and on foot through the Avgustrovsky checkpoint, on foot and on bikes through the second international checkpoint, and on foot through the other checkpoints.
Polish officials pledged to sort out all legal formalities before January 1, 2004. The Pererow-Belovezha checkpoint in the Kamenets district is to reopen in June.
"The European Union expansion should not harm bilateral relations," Mr. Mikhnevich stressed. "Today we spoke the same language. It took us just two hours and a half to agree on reopening the border checkpoints. Therefore, traffic across Belarusian-Polish border will intensify next spring."
Pawel Dakowski, deputy interior minister and co-chairman of the Belarusian-Polish commission on cross-border cooperation, noted that the fact that the sides can resolve problems is a good step to cooperation. The officials visited the Pererow-Belovezha checkpoint after the talks and then signed a protocol of the meeting.
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