OREANDA-NEWS. US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said he will visit Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Cyprus in the coming year. He announced this on Monday on Twitter. According to a State Department press release, the head of American diplomacy will visit Kiev on January 3, negotiations are scheduled with President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky, Foreign Minister Vadim Priestayko and Defense Minister Andrei Zagorodniuk.

On January 4, Pompeo will arrive in Minsk, where he will meet with President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko and Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei. The State Department, in a statement issued again, reiterated the US desire for "normalization of bilateral relations". On January 5, Pompeo will travel to Nur-Sultan, where he will be received by the head of Kazakhstan, Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev, as well as the first president of the republic, Nursultan Nazarbayev and the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mukhtar Tleuberdi.

From January 5 to 6, Pompeo will be in Tashkent, where he will meet with President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov. In addition, he will participate in a ministerial meeting with the heads of the foreign affairs agencies of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, which will discuss the situation in Afghanistan and issues of regional cooperation.