U.S. lifts sanctions on Belaruskali, Belarusian Potash Company, Finance Ministry, 2 banks - special envoy

MINSK. March 19 (Interfax) - The United States is lifting its sanctions on a number of Belarusian companies and banks, including Belaruskali, the U.S. president's special envoy John Coale said in Minsk on Thursday.

The sanctions are being removed from Belinvestbank, the Development Bank of Belarus and the Finance Ministry, Coale was quoted by the First Man's Pool Telegram channel, affiliated with the presidential press service, as saying after talks with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk.

Belarusian Potash Company and Belaruskali have also been taken off the sanctions lists, the statement said.

The sanctions will be lifted sooner than they used to be, Coale said. The U.S. has learnt to do it quicker and, prior to his Minsk visit, held expanded talks with the Treasury Department and other agencies involved with sanctions' imposition, the envoy said. This time round everything will be much quicker, he said.