U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun gave his country’s full support for OSCE Chair-in-Person Edi Rama’s initiative to visit Belarus and meet with all stakeholders. Biegun called on the Belarus government to accept the offer.
Rama and Biegun met in Vienna on Thursday to discuss the Belarus crisis. The meeting came one day ahead of OSCE CiO, Albanian Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Edi Rama address at a special meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council on the situation in Belarus, on 28 August.
Biegun and Rama called for open and constructive dialogue in Belarus between all sides.
Deputy Secretary Biegun met with @OSCE Chairman-in-Office @ediramaal. We thank the CiO for his initiative & urge the government of #Belarus to accept his offer to engage all stakeholders. As CiO stated, open & constructive dialogue is needed to find a way forward in Belarus. pic.twitter.com/Zh3DxE4bGz
— U.S. Mission to OSCE (@usosce) August 27, 2020
U.S. State Secretary Mike Pompeo has also supported Rama’s joint initiative with Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde earlier, together with the EU and some EU member states.
So far, the Belarus government has not responded publicly to the offer.
