Events

MINSK, 10 September (BelTA) – The United States would like to continue cooperation with Belarus in order to ramp up the bilateral dialogue, reads a statement of the U.S. inter-ministerial delegation that was on a visit to Belarus, BelTA has learned.

“The U.S. expects to continue cooperation with Belarus with a view to expanding the bilateral dialogue. At the same time we give priority to strengthening democratic standards and support for civil society,” the statement reads.

The statement points out that during the visit of the U.S. delegation, the parties discussed ways to boost the bilateral cooperation in the areas of mutual interest.

Thomas O. Melia, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor said that the United States will welcome closer ties with the Belarusian government and the broader public. In his words, several events will be held soon where official representatives of the two countries will be able to meet. These are the UN General Assembly in New York, the OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw and the OSCE Ministerial Conference in Switzerland.

Thomas O. Melia noted that the visit of the inter-ministerial delegation did not result in any changes in the bilateral relations. “No specific decisions have been made. The visit has marked the resumption of the bilateral contacts and we hope that this trend will remain in place. Our position is the same. We are interested in helping Belarus strengthen its sovereignty, stability and well-being. The objective of the visit was to discuss the further cooperation in this field,” he said.

Assistant Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development Paige Alexander spoke about the meeting at the Belarus Education Ministry where she said the parties discussed joint projects and programs for vulnerable groups of people, children with special needs and inclusive education.