(ANSA-AFP) - MINSK, 01 FEB - US Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo on Saturday called for "real progress" in relations
between the United States and Belarus, as he met the country's
president Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk.
It was the first visit to Belarus, a close ally of Russia, by
a US Secretary of State since 1994, when Warren Christopher
accompanied then-president Bill Clinton. After a long freeze, US
has recently warmed ties with a country that is often described
as Europe's last dictatorship and has been led by former
collective farm director Lukashenko since 1994.
At a meeting at the capital's gleaming Palace of
Independence, Pompeo told Lukashenko it had been "too long" and
said Washington wants to build closer ties. "We are confident
that together we can make real progress across every dimension
of our relationship," he said. "All these things I hope you will
see as a good-faith attempt to truly engage politically and
diplomatically."
The Belarusian strongman told Pompeo that it was "very good
that you risked coming to Minsk after various misunderstandings
between Belarus and the US." Pompeo is on a tour of ex-Soviet
countries that began in Ukraine and will continue to Central
Asian Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Washington says it wants to
"normalise" relations with Minsk, while Lukashenko is seeking a
counterweight in relations with giant neighbour Russia, Minsk's
main ally and energy provider. (ANSA-AFP).
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