Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister - Chief of Staff Andriy Olefirov was in Washington, D.C. with working visit on August 1-2, 2012.

In the framework of the visit A.Olefirov conducted a range of meetings with officials of the Department of State, in particular Deputy Assistant Secretary of State J.Jacobs, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State T.Kaidanow, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and Co-Chairman of Ukraine-USA Working Group for Political Dialogue and Rule of Law T.Melia.

Deputy Foreign Minister also met with officials representing the White House, National Security Council, Office of the Vice-President, as well as U.S. congressmen – Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Europe and Eurasia D.Burton, and Head of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, Co-Chairman of House Committee on Foreign Affairs C.Smith. During the meetings parties discussed the prospects of U.S.-Ukraine relations, cooperation between Ukraine and the U.S. in political and economic spheres, interaction between the countries on international arena, preparations for Ukraine’s OSCE chairmanship as well as internal political situation in Ukraine, most importantly in the context of elections to Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

During the roundtable at one of the leading U.S. analytical centers, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, A.Olefirov introduced Ukraine’s foreign policy priorities and commented on the status of U.S.-Ukraine relations for the representatives of expert community and government circles.

Besides, A.Olefirov conducted meetings with representatives of Ukrainian and Jewish organizations in the U.S., discussing the relevant issues of these communities, Ukraine-U.S. and Ukraine-Israel relations as well as the prospects of cooperation between Ukraine’s government and international non-governmental organizations on the issues of prevention of racism and xenophobia in the context of our country’s OSCE chairmanship in 2013.