At the home-page of the Protest March “CAN’T LIVE LIKE THAT ANYMORE!” there appeared two new clips, of which its authors informed as usual all the Belarusian Internet forums. Sitewww.april19.org has recently won tremendous popularity owing to its unique video films, whose main hero is Alexander Lukashenko, shown in most weird circumstances. The clip enjoying the greatest popularity at www.april19.org is “Oh, what a happy man I am!”, which features Lukashenko playing the accordion and singing folk songs. One of the latest clips is entitled “One day from his life”. One can easily predict whose life can be seen there. The video clips’ authors dedicated their clips to the history of the Belarusian resistance and the disappeared Belarusian oppositionists. It deserves mention that the Protest March’s site now also contains English dubbings – load them down from the English version page.
Leaders of the Minsk regional executive are commanded to be at their working places at 6a.m. till 9p.m. during the spring sowing campaign. The authorities pledged to reward them for such industrious labor in ways, “stipulated by the legislation”. Control over the fulfillment of this claim will be maintained by the chairs of district and urban executive councils.
The Committee for state control of Belarus starts examining the activities of the Ministry of transport and communications, as well as its subdivisions. The Committee’s press-center reports that they spend every year around 80% of gasoline, 54% of diesel fuel and 5% of electric energy from the whole consumption level in the country. These are huge sums, so the inspection will see into how carefully these means had been wasted, whether the budget subsidies had been spent purposefully etc., reports “Sovetskaya Belorussiya”.
Penalty measures for negligence in storing the fuel are becoming stricter. Alexander Lukashenko’s decree envisages punishment for negligent storage and careless waste of fuel of 5 to 30 basic units – the fines are to be applied against the heads of companies, accountants and other state servants. Fines from 5 to 10 basic units will be levied on those, who exploit vehicles with unfixed speedometer.
The Vitebsk regional executive committee is holding these days negotiations over the cooperation with the Moscow brewery “Ochakovo”. As told by the chief assistant to the head of the regional committee Nikolai Fedorchuk, in course of negotiations they are discussing the conditions of the potential investor’s activities in the Vitebsk region. Among the variants of cooperation they now consider the construction of a new beer-making plant in Vitebsk and investing into one of the region’s breweries. In the first decade of April the draft agreement and a set of documents will be submitted to the country’s leadership, reports “Sovetskaya Belorussiya”.
The visit of the delegate Secretary General of the UN Kenzo Oshima that has started today can change the policy in the area of liquidation of the Chernobyl catastrophe’s repercussions. During the visit and meeting with Lukashenka it was said that the negative results of the catastrophe were exaggerated.
In compliance with the art.98 of the Bank code the National Bank reported of the following: due to the unsatisfactory financial condition of the “Belorrusky Birzhevoi Bank Ltd.” and their failure to fulfill their commitments before the depositors and creditors on the basis of art.97 of the Bank code from April 4, 2002 the bank will be deprived of its license to hold bank transactions in foreign currency. Such decision had been passed by the National Bank’s board. As was previously reported, a month ago they revoked the bank’s license for attracting population’s deposits likewise.
On April 3 Belarusian trade union of automobile and agriculture vehicle building industry that is the largest trade union in the country, has made a declaration about “groundless accusations against Russian colleagues” in the programs of the Belarusian TV (BT). “This time, - the declaration reads – the Federation of Independent trade unions of Russia (FITR) and its chair Mikhail Shmakov were targeted”.
The Russian-Belarusian intergovernmental commission will discuss today during its Minsk summit a problem of setting up on the basis of the Russian “Gasprom” and Belarusian “Belgasprom” of a joint venture on gas transportation, said during the annual press-conference of the “Belgasprombank’s” shareholders the director general Petr Petuh, reports IA EKOPRESS.
The official statistics reports that over 30% of all the Belarusian companies are dwelling in the bankrupt or pre-bankrupt state, reports IA EKOPRESS. Such data were cited by the chairman of the Department of financial policy of the Ministry of Economy of Belarus Vladimir Anosov. Speaking at the meeting of the International directors’ club BNPA he underscored that around 70% of all current assets of all Belarusian companies fall on the reserves of the raw materials and finished goods.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) – a New York–based, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to the defense of press freedom worldwide – called on March 28 for an independent, international inquiry into the July 2000 disappearance of Belarusian cameraman Dmitry Zavadsky.
The conference will be hosted by the www.ucpb.org. It’ll start today at 4p.m. and will be dedicated to the forthcoming congress of the United Civil Party, due to take place in Minsk on April 6. On April 7, as you know, the UCP will organize in Minsk and Molodechno the “chain of those who care” in commemoration of late 13th Supreme Soviet Vice-Speaker Gennady Karpenko.
Father of the late ZUBR activist Andrei Zaitsev Yuri and his Gomel attorney Dmitry Ivanishko have been trying hard for over three months to clarify the circumstances, surrounding Andrei’s death. However, their attempts to get information from the official structures bore no result. Nonetheless, reports Radio Svaboda, the eye-witnesses don’t keep silent.
The meeting of the shareholders has agreed to proposals of the board of directors of the joint-stock company “Surgutneftegaz” in c privatization contest relating “Naften” (Navapolatsk oil-refinery). It was stated by “Surgutneftegaz” vice-president Vadim Somov to the ABN correspondent. As said by him, the directors’ board it to take the final decision on the conditions of privatization and a volume of the investment after a visit of “Surgutneftegaz” president Vladimir Bogdanov to Belarus. The visit is to start on April 3.
At a yesterday’s press conference Belarusian Ambassador to Russia Uladzimer Hryhorieu declared that Russian investors will be given a priority in privatization of the Belarusian oil-refineries which are evaluated now before privatization. The Ambassador underlined that “The warmest attention will be given to the Russians”. At present in Belarus, as said by Hryhorieu, about 500 ventures with Russian capital are working.
In connection with the EU ban on air flights to Europe for too noisy jumbo jets the country’s aviation company “Airport Gomelavia” lost an opportunity to carry out international travels. Ahead of the coming tourist season this circumstance will negatively affect the company’s poor financial record, reports IA EKOPRESS.
Profitability of the Belarusian banks’ own capital in 2001 was equal to 2.6%. For comparison, in 1996 it was equal to 21%, in 1994 – 134%, and in 1993 – 200%. The share of own capital of the banks in GDP of Belarus makes 3%. These figures, as agency Ekopress informs, were reported by the director of the Foreign Economic Ties Department of the National Bank of Belarus Yuri Ulaskin at the assembly of the International BNPA Directors’ Club.
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