Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus O.Kravchenko visits USA

01 February 2019

01-02-2019

On January 29-31, 2019 the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, Oleg Kravchenko, visited Washington, DC.

During the visit O.Kravchenko held a meeting with the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, A.Wess Mitchell. The parties discussed topical issues of Belarus-U.S. cooperation and the situation in the Eastern European region. O.Kravchenko also met with the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, George Kent.

Implementation of projects in Belarus was discussed at the meeting with the Assistant Administrator for Bureau for Europe and Eurasia of the U.S. Agency for International Development, Brock Bierman.

O.Kravchenko held talks with the Special Assistant to the U.S. President and Senior Director for European and Russian Affairs on the U.S. National Security Council, Fiona Hill.

Meetings were held with a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Co-Chair of the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, Christopher Smith, as well as with the member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Francis Rooney, senior staff of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

During the meeting with the Vice-President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Gary Litman, the sides discussed trade, economic and investment cooperation development between our countries, possibility of participation of representatives of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce leadership and American companies-members of the Chamber in economic conferences in Belarus

During the visit, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus met with the leaders of think tanks Jamestown Foundation Glen Howard, Kennan Institute Matthew Rozhansky, Director of Russia and Eurasia Program of Carnegie Endowment Eugene Rumer, with a group of researchers at the Brookings Institution, with representatives of the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

Talks were held with leaders of the National Coalition Supporting Eurasian Jewry.

Possibilities of enhancing contacts between business circles of the two countries were discussed with the Chair of Belarus-U.S. Business Council, David Baron.

On January 31, 2019 the Atlantic Council hosted a conference “The Belarus Dilemma: For Minsk and the West” with panelists including Oleg Kravchenko, the Senior Director of the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, Michael Carpenter, Program Chair in the Center for European Policy Analysis, retired Commander of U.S. Army Europe Benjamin Hodges, Distinguished Fellow of Atlantic Council, former U.S. Ambassador to Russia, former NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow, President and CEO of the U.S. – Russia Foundation, former Special Assistant to the U.S. President Celeste Wallander.

The conference was attended by representatives of the U.S. Department of State, several leading U.S. think tanks, media and non-governmental organizations, Embassies of foreign countries in the United States.