Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's "openness" towards Belarus is favourable to relations between the European Union and the former Soviet republic, Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Tuesday at a joint conference, according to dpa. Tusk also said Poland would increase cooperation with Belarus as there were improved democracy and human rights in the country. Berlusconi met with Belarus President Aleksander Lukashenko on Monday in a breakthrough after years of isolation for Belarus' persecution of political opposition and independent media. The talks should be seen in context of recent EU attempts to help Belarus "undertake the path of democratic evolution," Italy's foreign minister has said. The EU and US have campaigned since the mid-1990s to isolate Belarusian leadership by banning their travel and imposing trade sanctions.
