US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday called for "real progress" in relations between the United States and Belarus, as he met the country's president Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk.
It was the first visit to Belarus, a close ally of Russia, by a US Secretary of State since 1994, when Warren Christopher accompanied then-president Bill Clinton.
After a long freeze, US has recently warmed ties with a country that is often described as Europe's last dictatorship and has been led by former collective farm director Lukashenko since 1994.
At a meeting at the capital's gleaming Palace of Independence, Pompeo told Lukashenko it had been "too long" and said Washington wants to build closer ties.
"We are confident that together we can make real progress across every dimension of our relationship," he said.
"All these things I hope you will see as a good-faith attempt to truly engage politically and diplomatically."
The Belarusian strongman told Pompeo that it was "very good that you risked coming to Minsk after various misunderstandings between Belarus and the US."
Pompeo is on a tour of ex-Soviet countries that began in Ukraine and will continue to Central Asian Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Washington says it wants to "normalise" relations with Minsk, while Lukashenko is seeking a counterweight in relations with giant neighbour Russia, Minsk's main ally and energy provider.
Meanwhile, Moscow is keen to draw Belarus even more tightly into its sphere of influence.
While both countries already form a nominal union, with close trade and military cooperation, the Kremlin has called for deeper integration.
Lukashenko has opposed outright unification and has recently sought to reduce Belarus's near-total reliance on Russian oil.
The US and Belarus have had no exchange of ambassadors since 2008 due to a row over economic sanctions, but Pompeo said the long diplomatic freeze would end soon.
"We will have an ambassador here before too long," he said.
In September, the US said the countries were preparing to exchange ambassadors in a "historic" step.
Washington imposed sanctions on Belarus in 2006 over "fundamentally undemocratic" elections, as well as political repression, detentions and disappearances.
The US eased those sanctions again in 2016, but has yet to totally lift them.
Pompeo called for "great American businesses" to build stronger economic ties, calling Belarus a "great opportunity."
The last senior US official to visit was President Donald Trump's then-national security advisor John Bolton who met the Belarusian leader last September.
Lukashenko said then that he was looking to open a "new chapter in our relations."