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Foreign Minister Makey meets with secretary general of Council of Europe

Foreign Minister Uladzimir Makey met with Thorbjorn Jagland, secretary general of the Council of Europe, in New York on September 27, the Belarusian foreign ministry’s press office said.

The press office did not give any details of the meeting. Mr. Makey, who left his job as head of the Presidential Administration to take the position of foreign minister this past August, has been staying in the US city to attend a session of the UN General Assembly.

Belarus is the only European country that is not a member of the Council of Europe.

Belarus’ national legislature held Special Guest status in the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) between 1992 and 1997. The status was suspended in 1997 following a November 1996 national referendum condemned by foreign observers as undemocratic. PACE said in June 2009 that the status would be restored after Minsk introduced a moratorium on the death penalty.

Mr. Jagland has repeatedly criticized the Belarusian authorities’ crackdown on political opponents and the application of capital punishment in the country.// BelaPAN