The following persons will participate in the celebrations: former Prime Minister of Poland Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, leader of the Movement For Freedom (MFF) Alaksandr Milinkevich, Poland’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz, Vice-Rector of the University of Warsaw Professor Marta Kicińska-Habior, and representatives of embassies of the EU member states.
Addressing the congress participants, Alaksandr Milinkevich emphasized the importance of the Kastus Kalinouski educational programme for overcoming fear within the Belarusian society.
The MFF leader thinks that the youth should know that when they dare to publicly defend their rights and freedoms, they wouldn’t remain alone against the repressive machine of the dictatorial state. Moreover, the Programme opens in practice the European prospect for young people whose mission is to become good professionals in their fields, and to promote democratisation and Europeanisation of Belarus.
“We are grateful to the Polish nation for its aid and assistance for Belarusians in the hard times of absence of freedom, and we believe that the civil responsibility of European Belarusians would allow steering the course of development of our Belarus into the European stream, and would contribute to the strengthening of friendly relations of our nation with all of our neighbours,” noted Milinkevich.
For your reference – Six years ago, the MFF leader Alaksandr Milinkevich, Polish Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, and chancellors of nine universities signed “The Letter of Intent”, under which Poland’s universities began accepting Belarusian students who were deprived of the opportunity to receive higher education at home because of their beliefs. During the six years, 619 Belarusians were accepted under the Kalinouski programme to 77 departments of 37 Polish universities in 15 cities of Poland. Thanks to the Programme, 57 Belarusians received master’s degrees, and 2 Belarusians defended their doctoral theses over this time.
