Customs officers at the Belarusian-Polish border near Brest seized last week what is reported to be the largest drug shipment they have seen
since the beginning of 2002.
A Belarusian man traveling by rail to Warsaw was carrying more than a pound of marihuana and 305 ecstasy pills. The customs officials say over two pounds of poppy straw, which is used for making an injection drug, and large numbers of MDMA were seized this year. According to the chief of the Zapadny Bug Customs Service, officers seized three grams of marihuana in joints last week. That was one of the four drug smuggling cases reported by the customs service this year.
The Chinese ambassador to Belarus, Yu Zhenqui, met with Vasily Dolgolyov, chairman of the Brest Regional Executive Committee, on September 25. On his first visit to Brest on September 24 and 25, the
ambassador, who travels together with his wife and an aide, visited several enterprises, the Free Economic Zone "Brest", and the Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park. Mr. Yu said the main purpose of his visit was to familiarize himself with the region and its enterprises.
After the trip he intends to recommend that Chinese enterprises to work closely with the Free Economic Zone "Brest". He described the zone as modern and successfully developing.
Mr. Dolgolyov called on Chinese entrepreneurs to cooperate with enterprises in Brest and its free economic zone. The only Chinese company registered in the Free Economic Zone "Brest" plans to package devices for measuring blood sugar levels.
The Brest branch of the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ), which recently interviewed dozens of its members, says that most of them complained about limited access to information.
The BAJ branch in Brest has more than 40 members who work for private and state-controlled media, including the two major local papers, Vecherny Brest and Brestsky Kuryer. The latter is the only private periodical in town. Those interviewed pointed to official's reluctance to talk, accredit reporters, misinformation, and difficulties in obtaining permission for taking pictures.
However, most said the occupational conditions for journalists in Brest were "neither good nor bad", and some even called them "favorable".
Reporters employed by Brestsky Kuryer have been banned from attending regional government meetings, and the regional
government's Public Relations Department has been instructed not to give the paper any information. The BAJ's Brest branch, the biggest in Belarus, intends to urge the local authorities to observe the media law and the constitution, and to monitor violations. The Brest journalists are also collecting signatures under a petition to abolish articles of the criminal law stipulating harsh punishment for defamation of government
officials.
Brestgazoapparat has spent about $25 million on the modernization and development of its production facilities in the last five years, Yevgeny
Sergiyenko, deputy technical director of the Brest-based Belarusian-Russian company, told reporters in Minsk last week.
Brestgazoapparat, which owns the trademark of Gefest, is controlled by Russia's Gazprom. The enterprise specializes in the manufacture of gas, electric and combined types of stoves.
According to Mr. Sergiyenko, Brestgazoapparat currently manufactures 42 models and 114 modifications. The average annual output is 510,000 stoves. As many as 350,000 stoves were produced in the first 8 months of 2002. More than 70 percent of the output is exported. In the first 8 months, exports rose by 9.7 percent year-on-year and totaled more
than $40 million. The main sales agent in external markets is a distribution network including about 50 wholesalers, through which the
enterprise sells nearly 90 percent of its total output. The network comprises 32 Russian wholesaling companies. Apart from that, a certain amount is exported to Germany, Poland, CIS and Baltic countries, Mr. Sergiyenko said. Lyudmila Astapova, deputy director general for economy and finance, noted the company's stable financial position. According to her, one of the main problems is limited
production space, that is why the Brestgazoapparat has to search for additional areas exteriorly. In 2001, the company started a plant to manufacture and process glass, which made it possible to alter stoves' designs. In August 2002, Brestgazoapparat acquired a production facility with a total area of 22,000 square meters. In this building, the
company intends to manufacture a new kind of products, which is kept secret. "This will be an absolutely new product," Ms. Astapova noted.
Several dozen people demonstrated in front of the regional government building in central Brest for more than three hours on September 18 protesting against the use of identification numbers in Belarusian
passports. The demonstrators, mostly Orthodox believers,
held icons and prayed.
"Ukraine and Russia no longer use personal numbers, while our passports are issued with such numbers," demonstrator Galina Gordeyeva told BelaPAN.
The police, whose orders to disperse fell on deaf ears, did not try to make arrests, although the protest had not been sanctioned by the city authorities. The protest ended after the demonstrators met with Nina
Shpak, the regional government's information chief. Demonstrators told BelaPAN that the regional government head, Vasily Dolgolyov, had agreed to meet them within the next few days. They intend to hand Mr. Dolgolyov an appeal against the use of personal numbers. The demonstrators hope that the appeal will be delivered to Belarusian leader
Aleksandr Lukashenko. "We went to Minsk and handed the same papers to officials, but they seem to have thrown them away. We think the president did not receive them. He meets with Dolgolyov from time to time, so we will ask him to deliver our message of protest to the president."
The Brest Regional Committee of the Belarusian Education and Science Workers Union (BESWU) on September 17 accepted the resignation of Nikolai Kovsh, who had headed the Committee for more than six years.
Speaking at the Committee's executive meeting, Mr. Kovsh said that he resigned in response to "the authorities' unprecedented and flagrant interference in trade union affairs." His resignation one day before a convention of the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus (FTUB) appears to be a result of persistent efforts by the FTUB new boss, former
Presidential Administration Deputy Chief Leonid Kozik, to purge the Federation of disloyal elements. "I was told to quit before the trade union convention," Mr. Kovsh said. "The authorities get rid of dissidents who have their own position. It is a mistake to think that trade unions can stay united currying favor with the authorities. There will be no social partnership." Tamara Chebotova, chair of the BESWU National Committee, asked Mr. Kovsh to forgive her for her failure to defend
him. "You were an honest, uncompromising and creative leader," she said at the meeting. "You were a credit to your organization. There are not many leaders like you." The meeting participants approved the nomination of Viktor Kharitonovich, who has served as property manager with the Brest Regional Executive Committee in the last seven years,
for the position left vacant by Mr. Kovsh. Mr. Kharitonovich is the second representative of the authorities to infiltrate the leadership of the Brest Regional Trade Union Association (BRTUA) this year. In July, Nikolai Basalai, former chief of Brest's Moskovsky district administration, replaced Vladimir Mirochnik as chairman of the BRTUA.
Mr. Kovsh was regarded in the BRTUA as the last representative of the team of Vladimir Goncharik, former chairman of the FTUB who unsuccessfully challenged Aleksandr Lukashenko in the 2001 residential election. Mr. Goncharik stepped down as FTUB chairman in December 2001.
Vasily Dolgolyov, chairman of the Brest Regional Executive Committee, has set the Brest region's agricultural sector the task of gathering one
million metric tons of grain next year.
"If we do not get a million, I'll feel ashamed to stay in this position," Mr. Dolgolyov declared at a meeting with trade union activists on Wednesday. As a result of this year's harvesting campaign, the region
reportedly gathered about 900,000 tons of grain, 150,000 tons more than in 2001. "If we reach a million tons, we will get rid of the need
for imported grain. We must reach self-sufficiency," Mr. Dolgolyov stressed. The region has been faced with the target of gathering one
million tons of grain for three years in a row. According to the regional government's Agriculture and Foodstuffs Committee, there has been an upward trend in the region's grain gross output in recent years. In 2001, the region had a crop of 752,100 tons, 106,600 tons more than in the previous year. The total area under grain crops increased by 44,000 hectares, or 14 percent, in 2001 and shrank by one percent in 2002.
Another task set by the regional governor is to increase the area under rape crops. "All Europe has lined up to buy rape. They charge $190 for a ton in Germany. We will sharply increase rape sowing, as we should become an agricultural exporter," Mr. Dolgolyov stressed.
Individual entrepreneurs who sell consumer goods at outdoor markets in Brest did not open their stalls on Wednesday, joining a nationwide one-day walkout organized by the strike committee led by Valery Levonevsky.
Unlike the newly established United Council of Entrepreneurs, which staged a national strike from September 1 to 6, the strike committee puts forward political demands in addition to economic ones. The
Levonevsky-led vendors suggest that Aleksandr Lukashenko and other government officials should resign, accusing them of attempts to ruin small businesses. Brest's major marketplaces were deserted on September 11. Notices posted there in previous days had announced that traders would not work. However, some vendors did not join the strike and offered their merchandise at prices higher than usual, trying to benefit from the absence of competitors.
Brest's vendors did not participate in the September 1-6 strike, as an agreement was reached with the city government that their demands would be discussed at a round-table conference. However, the conference, which was held on September 9, did not yield any substantial results.
Theater companies from 13 countries will arrive at Brest to take part in the international festival Belaya Vezha, which opens its seventh season on September 13.
Guests from Britain, Belgium, the Czech Republic and Moldova are expected to participate in the five-day event for the first time.
According to Brest Puppet Theater Director Mikhail Shavel, British actor Conrad Frederick will deliver his one-man performances both at Belaya Vezha and before the patients of a children's hospital and a health center.
The jury, headed by Belarusian Art Academy Rector Richard Smolsky, will select the best drama and puppet shows and theatrical experiments.
One drama company and one puppet show will receive the Grand Prize provided by the Brest regional government. A separate public jury will award the Audience's Favorite Show prizes, etc. According to the head of the Brest Regional Drama and Music Theater, Aleksandr Kozak, the festival is gaining popularity and artistic stability, having hosted actors
from 29 countries over its history. It is the first time that almost all tickets have been sold out days before the shows, he says. It is also the first time that the Ministry of Culture has stepped down as the sponsor, delegating the function to the Brest Regional Executive Committee, which bears 70 percent of the costs. The remaining 30 percent will be covered by ticket sales.
This year, too, the organizers have removed the outdoor stage in Kamenets from the list of venues because of an unfavorable weather forecast.
Brest city authorities promised to do what they can within their powers to address market traders' grievances, during a conference with traders at the city government office on September 9. Vladimir Mazalov, chairman of the Brest Union of Entrepreneurs "Sodeistviye", at the conference urged the authorities to revoke a July 2 directive requiring private traders to move and keep their outlets away from the state-run shops. "Republican and local authorities have passed many regulations lately that created impossible conditions for businesses and are targeted against the consumers," Mr. Mazalov said. "We pay taxes and are entitled to humane attitude."
Traders told BelaPAN after the conference that they would go on an indefinite strike on October 1 if problems raised at the conference were not addressed. Taking part in the meeting with traders were Nikolai
Gordiyevich, head of the city's executive authority; Nadezhda Yashchuk, chairwoman of the Brest City Soviet (elected council); the heads of the district administrations, sanitary services, police, customs and border patrol services.
27 September 2002