Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko met with representatives of U.S. President Donald Trump’s team, led by U.S. Special Envoy for Belarus John Coale, in Minsk on 15 September, BelTA has learned.
“Dear John, we live far apart, so we rarely see each other. But I am glad to welcome you to Belarus. We made no secret of the fact that you would be coming to visit us. And you didn’t hide anything either, we are aware of that. Our people knew you were coming. I must tell you that our public follows your visits with deep interest. Naturally, our neighbors and other world leaders are keeping a close eye on our meeting,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.“As you can see, our company has expanded a little. I invited the prime minister to join us so that he could report in detail on the practical outcomes of our past contacts and how the previous agreements are being implemented,” the Belarusian leader added.
In turn, John Coale conveyed greetings from U.S. President Donald Trump and noted that the American leader fully supports everything being done.
The talks included Prime Minister Aleksandr Turchin, Chairman of the State Security Committee (KGB) Ivan Tertel, and Belarus’ Permanent Representative to the UN Valentin Rybakov from the Belarusian side.
U.S. authorities have heard the recent statement by Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko on the need to return money “stuck” in the bank. This follows from statements made by U.S. Special Envoy for Belarus John Coale at the talks.
“I fully, absolutely support your demands. In fact, you are absolutely right. This money must be unfrozen and returned. We have approached the bank with a request to unfreeze these funds. We are now working out a mechanism for how to do this. As soon as we receive a concrete answer from the bank, we will inform you immediately,” John Coale said.
Aleksandr Lukashenko thanked John Coale for the fact that the USA is closely following his statements.
“I fully, absolutely support your demands. In fact, you are absolutely right. This money must be unfrozen and returned. We have approached the bank with a request to unfreeze these funds. We are now working out a mechanism for how to do this. As soon as we receive a concrete answer from the bank, we will inform you immediately,” John Coale said.
Aleksandr Lukashenko thanked John Coale for the fact that the USA is closely following his statements.
Belarusian President said: “We are open to discussing any matters. The only thing (it is not a demand but my request for you) is that we have to honor our agreements without fail. On our part and on the part of the USA.”
“Of course,” John Coale agreed.
The head of state also noted that the parties had already secured quite many agreements concerning economic relations. “This is why I’ve invited the prime minister, who will inform both you and us, everyone, who is present here, about the implementation of our agreements,” he added.