MINSK, August 22 (Itar-Tass) — Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko pins big hopes on new Foreign Minister Vladimir Makey.
Presenting the new minister on Wednesday, the president marked that Makey had worked not only within the ministerial staff, but also at foreign missions of Belarus. “It is no secret that I involved him in some foreign policy initiatives,” he said.
“Upon my instructions, as ambassador at large he met with many leaders both in the East and in the West, trying to normalize our relations at difficult times. Particularly in the West,” Lukashenko said.
“I must say that he succeeded in that,” the president stressed. Makey, who used to be head of the presidential administration, was appointed Foreign Minister in a presidential decree of August 20.
Vladimir Makey was born in 1958 in the Grodno region. He graduated from the Minsk State Pedagogical Institute of Foreign Languages. From 1980 he served in the USSR’s Armed Forces. He is a colonel in reserve.
In 1992-1993 he studied at the Austrian Foreign Ministry’s Diplomatic Academy. In 1993-1996 Makey worked at Belarus’ Foreign Ministry, and later on was the country’s representative at the European Council, advisor to Belarus’ Embassy to France. He used to be head of the foreign ministry’s European Cooperation Department.
Since March of 2000, he was the presidential aide, since 2008 – head of the presidential administration of Belarus.