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

15 September 2017

15-09-2017

On September 11-13, 2017 the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, Oleg Kravchenko, visited Canada.

During the visit, O.Kravchenko met with the Assistants of the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stefanie Beck and Mark Gwozdecky. The sides discussed current state and prospects for development of the Belarusian-Canadian relations, bilateral cooperation within international organizations, the situation in the Eastern European region, as well as the initiative of the Head of the Belarusian state to launch a new Helsinki process.

At the meeting with the Assistant Deputy Minister of National Defense of Canada, Gordon Venner, the parties discussed issues of global and regional security, including holding of joint strategic exercises of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation “Zapad-2017”.

At the Economic Seminar organized at the annual meeting of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Association of Business Relations with Eurasia (CERBA) in Montreal, O.Kravchenko presented new opportunities of the Belarusian-Canadian economic cooperation that occurred after Ottawa lifted sanctions from our country. The seminar was attended by the heads of regional branches of CERBA, representatives of the Canadian Foreign Ministry, as well as Canadian enterprises and business associations interested in cooperation with Belarus.

Issues of Belarusian-Canadian interaction in trade, economic and investment spheres were discussed during the meetings of O.Kravchenko with the Chairman of the Canadian Association of Business Relations with Eurasia, Gilles Breton, the leadership of the Canadian commercial corporation and leading Canadian companies “Bombardier” and “Second Cap”.

On the occasion of the celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Belarus and Canada in 2017 and 500th Anniversary of Belarusian printing, O.Kravchenko participated in the presentation of the facsimile edition “The Book Heritage of Francis Skaryna” in the Canadian Foreign Ministry. During the meeting with the Chief Librarian and Archivist of Canada, Guy Berthaume, the sides discussed the possibilities for cooperation between the national libraries of Belarus and Canada.

O.Kravchenko also met with representatives of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada.