MINSK, 20 July (BelTA) – Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko appointed new ambassadors to the USA, the Netherlands, Austria, the UK and Kazakhstan on 20 July, BelTA reports.
First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrei Yeudachenka will become Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Belarus to the Netherlands. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Oleg Kravchenko was appointed Belarus' Ambassador to the USA. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrei Dapkiunas was appointed Ambassador to Austria with concurrent accreditation in Slovenia. He will also be Belarus' Permanent Representative at International Organizations in Vienna and at the OSCE.
Former Industry Minister Pavel Utyupin will become Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Belarus to Kazakhstan, while former Finance Minister Maksim Yermolovich was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Belarus to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland with concurrent accreditation in Ireland.
Belarus' Ambassador to the UK Sergei Aleinik will replace Oleg Kravchenko as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. Belarus' Ambassador to Italy Aleksandr Gurianov will become First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.
According to Head of the Belarus President Administration Igor Sergeyenko, among the newly appointed ambassadors there are not only career diplomats, but also well-established executives with a wealth of experience in international relations.
“I've heard a lot about nearly everyone present here. Not to mention Andrei Dapkiunas: I am sure he is an experienced man and a true Belarusian. As far as I can understand from when my fate encountered his work in the past when he was still in New York,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
Speaking about the appointment of Andrei Yeudachenka as Belarus' ambassador to the Netherlands, Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei noted that this European country is not fully explored by Belarus yet, there are prospects for launching serious projects. “I strongly hope your experience of work in Belarus will encourage you to seriously help us with promising projects. The Netherlands is not a simple country. They don't want to try to understand everything and not everyone knows about Belarus. Nevertheless, they maintain a special stance. I think you will be able to turn this compact, small country, which is roughly equal to Belarus, towards our side,” the head of state told the ambassador.
According to the president, Maksim Yermolovich has been specifically trained to fill the position of Belarus' ambassador to the UK. “By the way, [Prime Minister of Russia Mikhail] Mishustin recommends him. He has told me a lot about him, even things I didn't know. He has a very good opinion of our finance minister. When I said he was leaving for the UK as part of a grand design, he was regretful about it,” the head of state said. “The situation over there is just like in America. You know better than I do how work should be done.”
It is worth mentioning that Belarus had not had an ambassador to the USA for 12 years. The USA and Belarus announced their decision to restore diplomatic missions to the level of ambassadors after the meeting of United States Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale with Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko in September. Back then David Hale said: “Today is a historic moment in American-Belarusian relations. I am glad to participate in the declaration of our readiness to exchange ambassadors as the next step in normalizing our relations.”
