Lukashenko: Foreign Ministry owes the country a big one
The President made a number of personnel decisions in the Foreign Ministry system.
The Head of State appointed:
Vladimir Ulakhovich Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to Hungary, concurrently to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia;
Anatoly Lis Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to Georgia;
Vladimir Borovikov Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to Vietnam;
Larisa Belskaya Permanent Representative of the Republic of Belarus to the United Nations Office and other international organisations in Geneva.
The President also approved appointment of:
Sergei Aleinik as First Deputy Foreign Minister;
Yuri Ambrazevich as Deputy Foreign Minister;
Igor Nazaruk as Deputy Foreign Minister.
When addressing the newly appointed persons, Aleksandr Lukashenko noted, “This event is of a landmark nature… I will not talk much about what global tasks we have to solve. I will rather say one thing: the Foreign Ministry owes the country a big one – if not to go into details. You understand perfectly well. Therefore, the task has been set so that, God forbid, we no longer stumble over these things.”
The Head of State asked how the duties will be distributed among the new deputy foreign ministers. Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei reported that the candidates had been chosen for relevant areas of work – based on their previous experience.
The First Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergei Aleinik, will oversee the directions of Western Europe, America, and development of co-operation with the ‘far arc’ countries. He will also be responsible for the state protocol service. “He used to deal with these issues in the past, and he is good at them. He will cope with these directions. This is very important now,” Mr. Makei noted.
Yuri Ambrazevich will oversee all issues related to the activities of foreign institutions of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry at international organisations. “This is a person who is ever producing new ideas,” Mr. Makei stressed, adding, “This direction is very important at present – given the fact that there is a certain passivity on the part of our western partners along the bilateral track. Therefore, the work in the system of international organisations is of great importance. It covers human rights issues and some other areas related to the promotion of our initiatives that we put forward in the past.”
Igor Nazaruk knows the real economy and, based on this, he will oversee all integration related issues (the Union State, the EAEU, and the CIS) and the foreign economic activity. “We believe that, taking into account the accumulated experience, he will cope with this direction,” Mr. Makei said, noting that the Foreign Minister will remain in charge of the Diplomatic Security Department, the Main Personnel Department and the Main Information and Analytical Department.
"Taking into account your instructions to optimise the activities of the central office and foreign institutions, I believe this distribution of powers and resources is optimal and should give a new impetus to the work of the Foreign Ministry’s leadership,” Mr. Makei stressed.
