Signing of an Intergovernmental Agreement between Belarus and the United States

22-09-2016

On September 21, 2016, during the visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vladimir Makei, to New York, an Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Belarus and the Government of the United States of America on the protection and preservation of certain cultural properties was signed.

Representatives from the World Jewish Congress, the U.S. Department of State and of a number of nongovernmental organizations took part in the signing ceremony.

On behalf of the Government of the Republic of Belarus, the Agreement was signed by the Foreign Minister of Belarus, Vladimir Makei. On behalf of the Government of the United States of America, the Agreement was signed by the Chair of the United States Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, Lesley Weiss.

For reference: The Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Aboard is an agency of the Government of the United States. The Commission identifies and report on cemeteries, monuments and historic buildings in Eastern and Central Europe that are associated with the heritage of the U.S. citizens, as well as in cooperation with the countries of this region assists in protection and preservation of this property. The Republic of Belarus became the 25th country, which the Agreement on the Protection and Preservation of Certain Cultural Properties was signed with. The members of the Commission are appointed by the U.S. President.

In his statement, the head of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs underlined that the Agreement provides solid legal grounds for intergovernmental cooperation between Belarus and the United States in the field of protection and preservation of cultural properties. The reason of this is that many famous Americans track their family roots back to Belarus and many Belarusians have left their mark in American history.

V.Makei noted that the Agreement testifies the improvement of political relations between the two states, taking into account that the Republic of Belarus and the United States hadn’t concluded any intergovernmental agreement for two last decades.

The fact of signing the Agreement was positively taken by the participants of the ceremony. During their interventions the representatives of the American Side noted the importance of the joint work between the Government of Belarus and the Government of the USA on the implementation of the Agreement.

An agreement to continue contacts, first of all, in trade and economic sphere, was reached with the representatives of the Jewish community.

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