Makei visit US under cover of UN

The Belarusian foreign minister, who is under a visa ban, is expected to visit New York.

The press service of the Belarusian MFA reports that Belarusian Foreign Minister Uladzimir Makei has met with Mr Sanaka Samarasinha, the UN Resident Coordinator in Belarus, on May 3.

The discussion focused on the implementation of the United Nations Development Framework Programme (UNDAF) for Belarus for 2011–2015 that accumulates the activity of all UN institutions operating in Belarus. The parties exchanged their views on the recently accomplished UNDAF’s mid-term review and agreed on the need to continue joint activity to mobilise donor resources for the Programme’s implementation.

They also discussed the forthcoming meeting of the Belarusian foreign minister with the UN Secretary-General in New York as part of the high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the appraisal of the United Nations Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons (13 May 2013), the upcoming regional conference on middle-income countries in the context of sustainable development (16-17 May 2013, Minsk), as well as the national consultations on the UN post-2015 development agenda that were completed in Belarus in April 2013.

It should be reminded that the Belarusian foreign minister is on the list of officials and oligarchs subject to sanctions over repression in the country. He is banned from entering the EU and the US. However, the ban is not applied to the trips on invitation of certain international organisations, including the United Nations.