Belarus welcomes Canada's decision to remove the trade restrictions. The decision came into force on 12 July, spokesman for the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dmitry Mironchik told a press briefing on 13 July, BelTA has learned.

“Ottawa announced the intention to cancel the restrictions, that had been in place in our bilateral trade for over ten years, more than a year ago. We are glad that the process of formalizing the decision has been successfully finished,” Dmitry Mironchik said.

The diplomat emphasized that Belarus consistently opposes any unilateral restrictive measures in the relations between sovereign states as they hamper the natural development of mutually beneficial ties between nations. “The decision of the Canadian side shows that the positions of Belarus and Canada on the matter have become closer,” Dmitry Mironchik added.

He pointed out that the Belarusian-Canadian relations have been developing rapidly starting from 2015. Belarus is set to maintain the active dialogue with Ottawa to use the arising opportunities to establish mutually beneficial collaboration, first of all, in economy.