Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 6 November (BelTA) – It is inadvisable to put Belarus in a position when the country needs to make a false choice between advancing relations along the eastern vector or the western one, BelTA learned from Senior Director of the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement (USA) Michael Carpenter on 6 November.

The analyst said: “Belarus is a sovereign country. I should say that at least from my point of view, we don’t have to ask Belarus to make a choice between its allied relations, tight historical and cultural ties with Russia and better relations with the USA. It is a false choice. We can improve our relations without it.”

Michael Carpenter said he hopes that Belarusian-American relations will get back to normal faster. He remarked that the absence of ambassadors has a certain deterring effect on the process because diplomacy represents a platform for advancing cooperation in other areas, too, including economy. “Certainly, it is necessary to advance relations between nations, secure tight ties between Americans and Belarusians,” he said.

The day before the American analyst visited the Hi-Tech Park. Michael Carpenter praised Belarus’ accomplishments in the IT sphere: “I was stunned by the number of young and talented people working in this park, by the number of businessmen, who use this organization as an incubator of their business ideas. No doubt, there is a great deal of contacts between the Hi-Tech Park and the Silicon Valley in the USA. It also contributes to further normalization of our relations and to stronger cooperation.”