The Belarusan National Platform conducted its annual conference on 1 June 2013 in Minsk. The two main issues discussed during the conference were the recommendation of Belarusan organisations for participation in the 5th meeting of the Civil Society Forum in Chisinau and the election of a new chairman as well as the members of the Coordination Committee.

Participants discussed the current work of the National Platform and identified the fact that the Platform managed not only continue its activities under the tough political circumstances but was even able to grow its recognisability as a positive development. On the other hand, the weak influence of civil society on the processes taking place within Belarus was seen as the main shortcoming of the Platform.

The Director of the Brussels-based Secretariat of the CSF informed the Platform about the activities of the Secretariat and underlined the importance of tight cooperation and information-sharing between the National Platform and the Secretariat which is necessary for the efficient work of the Forum. She stressed that the Secretariat is and will be serving as an organisational memory of the Forum, which is open to participation of new people and organisations in all of it structures — National Platforms, Working Groups, and the Steering Committee — that are elected in a transparent manner according to the established procedures. Ms Natalia Yerashevich underlined the importance of unity within the National Platform and thanked the Platform for its active contribution into development of the Forum in the early years of its operation.

The Conference recommended 26 Belarusan organisations as participants to the EaP CSF in Chisinau on 4-5 October 2013.

A resolution sharing the values and goals of the Eastern Partnership and the European Dialogue on Modernisation was unanimously adopted by the conference. The resolution supports the position of the European Union to start a new stage of dialogue with Belarus if all political prisoners are released by the Belarusan authorities. The full resolution is available in Belarusan here.

Uladzimir Matskevich withdrew his candidacy for the position of Chairman of the Coordination Committee as he hoped that this move "will remove certain tension and result in [...] bigger productivity". Therefore the National Platform elected Ulad Vialichka as the new Chairman with 37 votes of 44 in total.

The newly elected Coordination Committee is composed as follows:

• Yaroslav Bekish | Green Alliance
• Piotr Kuzniatsou | Homel Democratic Forum
• Siarhei Mackevich | Assembly of Pro-Democratic NGOs of Belarus
• Andrei Yahorau | Centre for European Transformation
• Aliaksandr Valchanin | Union Chernobyl — Belarus
• Aksana Shelest | Centre for Social Innovations

Pictures of the event are available here.

Source EaP CSF