Belarusian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka and his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, have agreed to hold a meeting in the near future, Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev announced in Babruysk on May 31.
The minister said that the Belarusian and Russian leaders had reached agreement to this effect in a recent telephone conversation.
Messrs. Lukashenka and Medvedev plan to discuss topical issues of bilateral cooperation, according to Mr. Nurgaliyev.
The Russian minister expressed hope that the coming meeting would give an impetus to the development of relations between the two countries. //BelaPAN
Ambassador Syarhey Aleynik presented his credentials to Pope Benedict XVI on May 29, said the press office of the Belarusian foreign ministry.
The ceremony took place at the Papal Palace in the Vatican City, the press office said. According to it, the pontiff and the Belarusian ambassador discussed issues concerning the development of bilateral relations. Mr. Aleynik informed the pontiff about measures taken by the Belarusian government to strengthen relations with the Roman Catholic Church, while Pope Benedict XVI expressed satisfaction with the level of cooperation and extended his best wishes to the Belarusian people, the press office said.
Mr. Aleynik was appointed ambassador to the Holy See and to the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta on April 10. Prior to the appointment, he served as Belarus' permanent representative to the United Nations and other international organizations based in Geneva. //BelaPAN
The third branch of the Minsk subway will be constructed by 2017, Vasil Zhybul, head of Minsk's subway development company, said at a news conference on Friday.
Preparatory work for the development of the 7.7-kilometer-long branch to consist of six stations will start in 2010, according to Mr. Zhybul.
The stations will include Loshytskaya in front of the ambulance service hospital in southern Minsk, Aerodromnaya or Minsk City near the Minsk-1 airport, Zhukowskaya at the intersection of Zukowskaha and Varanyanskaha Streets, Vakzalnaya near the central railroad station, Klara Tsetkin and Yubileynaya on the streets with the same names. Vakzalnaya and Yubileynaya will be interchange stations linked with Ploshcha Lenina and Frunzeskaya respectively.
The cost of the first stage of the construction is estimated at 1,300 billion rubels.
Mr. Zhybul said that authors of the project had taken into account the coming development of Minsk City, a large residential district and a business center to be crowned by a skyscraper.
He said that the new branch would help cut traffic at the Kastrychnitskaya/Kupalawskaya interchange stations.
Under Minsk's general development plan, the city subway is to include four branches 77 kilometers long in total with 58 stations. By 2025, there are to be some 50 stations at the three branches. //BelaPAN
The Belarusian government does not make it its goal to privatize large enterprises, Prime Minister Syarhey Sidorski told reporters in Minsk on May 30 after a meeting of the Council of Ministers’ Advisory Council for Foreign Investments.
These enterprises are being transformed into stock corporations “as an element of privatization,” Mr. Sidorski said. Talks about acquisitions of stakes in the Palimir chemical company and the Naftan oil refinery are still under way, he noted.
The government is actively negotiating with those interested in the Minsk Automobile Factory (MAZ), Mr. Sidorski said. “We want the assets of this enterprise to become part of the corporate structure of a large international holding,” he noted, “We have recently had talks with Oleg Deripaska who controls Russian Machines.”
The government plans to get investments totaling $1.5 billion to build a steel-smelting and steel-rolling plant in the near future, Mr. Sidorski said. “Whether the BMZ [Belarusian Steel Works] will participate in this project or whether it will be a separate project is still being considered,” he noted. “We’ve received offers. I believe the plant will be built in cooperation with potential investors in Austria or Germany. In addition, we’ve received an offer from Russia's Severstal, where a working group has been established on this matter.” //BelaPAN
A group of heritage conservation and small business activists, opposition youths and former Gulag prisoners gathered in the Kurapaty forest close to the Minsk beltway on Thursday to commemorate Stalin terror victims.
They lit candles and laid flowers at mass graves containing the remains of people believed to have been executed by the NKVD secret police.
The crowd observed a minute of silence and sang “Mahutny Bozha” (Oh, Lord Almighty), a Belarusian-language anthem.
The NKVD is believed to have executed 58 people as part of Stalinist purges in Belarus in May 1938.
Speaking at the rally, writer Vasil Yakavenka expressed hope that the commemoration of Stalin terror victims would contribute to “the preservation of the people’s spiritual culture.”
Opposition activist Vyachaslaw Siwchyk called on the crowd to hold another rally at the massacre site on June 3 to mark 20 years since a newspaper article by Zyanon Paznyak and Yawhen Shmyhalyow that shed light on the Kurapaty executions was published.
It was the article that encouraged the foundation of the Belarusian Popular Front and other national revivalist organizations a few months later, according to Mr. Siwchyk.
A total of seven police officers in uniform and plainclothesmen were present at the site during the rally. //BelaPAN
Belarus’ economic growth is accelerating, Viktar Bura, deputy prime minister, announced at a joint session of the House of Representatives and the Council of the Republic on May 30.
The country’s gross domestic product rose by 10.4 percent in the first four months of this year against a growth of 8.5 percent in the same period of 2007.
Mr. Bura named the industrial sector, which accounted for 31.4 percent of GDP from January through April, as the driving force of the economic growth.
Fixed capital expenditures increased by 24.4 percent in the country in the period. “This shows that the economy is aiming for technical modernization accompanied by a high pace of construction,” Mr. Bura stressed.
The vice premier said that the number of unprofitable companies was declining in Belarus. Such enterprises currently account for only 11 percent of the total number of economic entities registered in the country.
Belarus’ exports went up by nine percent in the first quarter of this year. The country had a deficit of $220.5 million in foreign trade in goods and services. //BelaPAN
Convicted small business activist Syarhey Parsyukevich is to serve a prison term in the number 17 correctional institution in Shklow, Mahilyow region.
The wife, Natallya, told BelaPAN that she had learned about this on Friday morning. She said that she had not been told when the husband would be transferred from the detention center in Zhodzina, Minsk region, to the prison.
On Thursday, the wife was allowed the first meeting with Mr. Parsyukevich.
The woman told BelaPAN that the husband was being denied medical treatment for asthma and nasal polyps.
"Moreover, when the convicted asked in writing to be put into the medical unit he was put in a ward with mentally ill people. He has been held there since May 21. Syarhey says that it is dangerous to be near mentally ill people," she said.
On April 23, Mr. Parsyukevich, a resident of Vitsyebsk, was sentenced to 2.
An embassy of Hungary will open in Minsk on June 3.
The embassy will start accepting visa applications in the latter half of June, Ambassador Ferenc Kontra told BelaPAN.
Mr. Kontra described his appointment as a “big challenge,” as he will have to organize the operation of the new diplomatic mission, work toward the development of relations between Hungary and Belarus in all areas, and start issuing visas to Belarusian citizens and providing consular services to Hungarians.
It is important for Belarus to get to know Hungary better and thereby to get closer to the European Union with its values, ideals, and opportunities, Mr. Kontra said. “We have very serious plans and intentions,” he noted.
Mr. Kontra’s career has included service as ambassador to Ukraine and to Russia, and service in diplomatic positions in Namibia and Iran.
Belarus and Hungary established diplomatic relations on February 12, 1992. Belarus opened its embassy in Budapest in January 2000.
The Belarusian Council of Ministers has drafted additional measures to increase investment and improve business environment in the country, Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Kabyakow said at a meeting of the Advisory Council on Foreign Investment on Friday.
"Eleven documents aimed at improving investment activity and business environment are at the final stage of approval," he said. "An action plan for investment environment improvement, which has been adopted by the government, contains 28 paragraphs of which 15 have already been fulfilled."
The vice premier said that investment was to increase to up to 30 percent of Belarus` GDP this year, noting that GDP was projected to increase by 11 percent and fixed capital expenditures by 25 percent in 2008 compared with the previous year.
There are more than 4,200 companies in the country with foreign capital contributed by investors in 68 countries. Among major investors are Russia, Britain, Austria, Switzerland and Germany.
Direct foreign investment reportedly increased from $200 million in 2005 to more than $1.2 billion in 2007. "Serious investment inflows are observed in the banking sphere," Mr. Kabyakow said. Out of 28 banks in Belarus, 23 reportedly involve foreign capital.
The city authorities have allowed the United Pro-democratic Forces (UPF) to demonstrate in Brest on June 1 against the abolition of some state benefits for children.
The demonstration will take place between 4 and 5 p.m. at the remote Lakamatyw stadium, the only place in Brest where mass events may be held, Ihar Maslowski, chairman of the regional chapter of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party “Hramada” (BSDP), told BelaPAN.
The event will be held by activists of the BSDP, the Belarusian Party of Communists, the United Civic Party and the Belarusian Popular Front, parties that are part of Belarus’ main opposition coalition.
“This event is part of the UPF program of defending the citizens’ social rights,” Mr. Maslowski said. “This is a strategic priority for the regional chapter of the BSDP. We’re convinced that it’s unacceptable to save on children.”
The organizers have invited top city government officials to take part in the rally against last year’s law that abolished many state privileges for various groups of people, including fare discounts for children.
31 May 2008