“Your Excellency Hadja Lahbib,
Your Excellency Minister-President Jan Jambon, and members of your cabinet,
Your Excellencies Ambassadors, dear members of the European Parliament and officials of the EU institutions,
Dear Belgian friends of free Belarus and my dear Belarusians,
It is a big day. Here, a few kilometers from European Institutions, Belarus got a new home. The Mission for Democratic Belarus will work on bringing Belarus closer to Europe. But also, it will make Europe closer to Belarus.
I can’t thank enough the Flemish government and its Minister President Jan Jambon for providing us with such beautiful premises in the heart of Brussels. Belarusians will never forget your generous gesture.
I want to take this chance and thank the government of Belgium, for hosting us here and for supporting the idea of the opening of such a mission. I know it is a non-conventional step. But we live in non-conventional times which need non-conventional solutions.
Of course, let me also thank the Belarusians of Belgium. For all your assistance and support to make this event bright and hospitable, for your commitment to Belarus. I’m proud to be among you.
And finally, special thanks go to The Center for European Future, our strategic partner, who made this opening night possible, and we are looking forward to working with you on a daily basis. We must make sure that Belarus stays on the European agenda.
I am sure that the Mission for democratic Belarus will become a hospitable place for every Belarusian who sees Belarus democratic and independent.
It will keep its doors open for any independent initiative or organization who work for changes in our country.
It will be the place where we will be brainstorming about the future, and where we will be building new friendships and alliances.
I made sure that the Mission is headed by our very best diplomat – Ambassador Uladzimir Astapenka, who has tirelessly worked on the first steps to jump start the Mission. It’s quite symbolic that almost 30 years ago Ambassador Astapenka opened the first Belarus Embassy here in Brussels. Welcome back, Uladzimir!
Dear friends,
When you entered this building, you might have seen the exhibition of Belarusian artist Volha Yakubouskaya entitled “Freedom cats”. My favorite cat from this series is, of course, my husband Siarhei. We fight for his release and the release of every political prisoner.
But today I was also very touched by the pictures behind me where the artist tells the story of the protest in Belarus in a form that even a child can understand. I know that no matter how difficult it is now in Ukraine and Belarus, this story will have a happy ending. We will get our happy ending.
I assure you that we will not stop until we win our country back. We will not stop until democracy returns to Belarus, and Belarus returns to the family of European nations to which it has always belonged.
Democratic Belarus will be the best help for Ukraine, the best punishment for Putin. It will be the donor of security in the region and a good partner for Europe.
I invite everyone to join our fight for democracy, justice, peace and European values. It’s not an easy fight, but it is the right one.
And I would like to make a toast to the success of the Mission of democratic Belarus to Brussels, to the victory of Ukraine, to all our European friends and to a new democratic Belarus in the united family of our continent!
Cheers.”
