Vienna, 20 June 1997 (RFE/RL) -- Belarus Foreign Minister Ivan Antonovich is due today to meet a senior official from the OSCE -- the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe -- to discuss establishing an OSCE office in Minsk.
The OSCE envoy, Ole Bierring, is expected to discuss a date for establishing the advisory and monitoring office, as well as the conduct of its operations.
Earlier this week, the OSCE issued a statement in which it expressed satisfaction at the positive response from Belarus to an OSCE offer to assist the country in achieving a more democratic form of government.
The Minsk office was recommended by an OSCE mission that visited Belarus in April and afterward issued a highly critical report. It concluded -- after talks with government and opposition leaders -- that Belarussian authorities are constructing a system of totalitarian government.