Events

MINSK, 28 March (BelTA) – Belarus’ Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei has held a number of meetings during his trip to the UK, BelTA learned from the Twitter account of the Belarusian embassy in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

According to the embassy, the Belarusian minister of foreign affairs met with UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Boris Johnson and member of the British royal family Prince Michael of Kent.

Earlier, Vladimir Makei met with Greg Hands, Minister of State for International Trade in the UK government to discuss trade and economic cooperation and sign a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in this sphere between the Belarusian and British governments. Apart from that, Vladimir Makei met with Vice President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Pierre Heilbronn.

As BelTA reported earlier, Vladimir Makei is in the UK on a scheduled working visit. It had taken more than half a year to prepare the visit. The Belarusian minister of foreign affairs is expected to meet with representatives of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the International Trade Department, the British parliament, and members of the royal family.

Minister of State for Europe and the Americas of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office Alan Duncan visited Belarus in September 2017. Alan Duncan met with the head of state and held negotiations with the minister of foreign affairs. The sides stated the constructive nature of the discussions, sketched out ways to further advance cooperation between Belarus and the UK. The UK has been one of Belarus’ leading economic partners for the last few years. According to the Belarusian embassy in the UK, for the last few years the country has been the third largest buyer of Belarusian products after Russia and Ukraine.