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Belarus and US to continue dialogue after Bolton's visit to Minsk — foreign minister

US National Security Advisor John Bolton visited Minsk on Thursday

Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makey Mikhail Metzel/TASS

Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makey

© Mikhail Metzel/TASS

MINSK, August 29. /TASS/. Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makey has positively assessed Minsk talks with US National Security Advisor John Bolton.

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"The visit was rather helpful," BelTA news agency quoted Makey as saying. "We agreed to continue dialogue and not to stay away from difficult issues," he added.

Makey noted that an honest and interesting conversation took place during Bolton's visit to Minsk. "It was clear that there was a striving for understanding each other, for listening to each other's arguments, and this, in my opinion, is the most important thing," the foreign minister said.

He stressed that one should not look for "any conspiracy theories" in regards to Bolton's visit to Minsk. "As far as I understand, his tour includes several destinations, with Belarus among them, with the aim of better understanding the situation in the region. He wanted to know the positions of different countries on the situation in the region, on possible developments, considering that it is not all calm and good," Makey noted. "We see several frozen conflicts, and there are certain issues concerning terrorism,especially when it comes to ensuring security in the region and in the world," he added.

Makey said that when the US requested the organization of Bolton's visit, Minsk proceeded from plans to develop normal relations with the United States, and thus agreed to schedule Bolton's visit. "No one called on anyone to join anything or to abandon anyone or anything. We had honest discussions about the situation in the region, situation in the world, as well as discussions on security, trade and economic cooperation, developing bilateral relations between Belarus and the US," the foreign minister stressed.

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