Improving bilateral relations between Minsk and Washington depends mainly on the democratization of Belarus. This is mentioned in a joint statement of the U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton and Foreign Minister of Belarus Sergei Martynov following a meeting in Astana, holding the OSCE summit.
«Welcoming the progress in global security, the U.S. and Belarus prove that a manifestation of a greater respect for democracy and human rights, necessary for progress of the country and its citizens, is needed for the improvement of bilateral relations,» the document says.
United States expressed hope for progress in ensuring compliance with international standards of the presidential elections in Belarus of December 19. In this regard, the U.S. side welcomed the decision of Minsk to invite a significant part of the international observers to monitor the elections.
In turn, the foreign minister of Belarus neither detailed the topic of the upcoming elections in the country, nor commented on the situation with the leak of information on WikiLeaks, ready to publish 1878 secret telegrams in Belarus.
In addition, Sergei Martynov and Hillary Clinton spoke in a joint statement about the decision of Belarus to eliminate stockpiles of highly enriched uranium.
According to Telegraf, the foreign minister considers the decision to eliminate stockpiles of highly enriched uranium as «another real proof of a consistent and responsible policy of Belarus in the field of nuclear nonproliferation.»
The U.S. State Secretary, in turn, stressed that he expected the Belarusian delegation to visit the summit on nuclear safety in 2012 in order «to express approval and the completion of this important event.»
