No deal on accreditation for Belsat TV after Makei-Waszczykowski meeting

Belarusian and Polish Foreign Ministers Uladzimir Makei and Witold Waszczykowski have not managed to reach an agreement about accreditation of the TV channel Belsat, the Polish Minister said after negotiations with Makei.

The Polish Minister for Foreign Affairs conducted negotiations with his Belarusian counterpart. Belsat accreditation was discussed in the second part of the negotiations. “We have discussed democratization and the fact that mass media should serve for the good of freedom instead of being used by politicians,” Waszczykowski said after the negotiations.

Tut.by asked the Minister if the agreement on Belsat had been reached and he replied: “No”.

Waszczykowski was not optimistic about the state of the Polish minority in Belarus either. There should be ‘no futile hopes’ about it, he said.

The TV channel Belsat has broadcast from Poland since 2007. The channel has tried to get accreditation in Belarus thrice but all the previous applications were rejected. On March 21, Belsat filed application seeking accreditation for the fourth time.