The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania notified the Embassy of Belarus about the denunciation of the agreement on customs cooperation.
The press service of the State Customs Committee of Belarus reported this on its Telegram channel.
The agency notes that the agreement, which has been in effect for almost two decades, will cease to be valid as of May 27 next year.
The State Customs Committee noted that the document touched on many areas – from customs control and information exchange to joint activities to suppress the illegal trafficking of drugs and psychotropic substances.
But in fact, Vilnius stopped cooperating with Minsk two and a half years ago, the report says.
Until the very end, Belarusian customs offered various options for cooperation, but Lithuania ignored them, the press service emphasized.
It is obvious that the position is not determined by the control bodies at the border, but by Lithuanian politicians who are not inclined towards cooperation between our countries, the State Customs Committee added.
And they reminded: in connection with the unilateral decision of Vilnius, currently only two checkpoints are operating on the Belarusian-Lithuanian border.
There are constant queues there due to the “irregular reception of transport by the adjacent side.”
Even after such a step, Belarusian customs is ready for an open and equal dialogue on customs issues, the department concluded.
Author: Pavel Gospodarik