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Pompeo urges real progress at Minsk meeting with Lukashenko

Washington wants to build closer ties with Belarus

01 February, 17:37
(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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