Official and opposition delegations from Belarus will engage in another session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. During the session the Permanent Committee will consider the “national assembly’s” possible membership in the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. Leader of the Belarusian liberal-democrats Sergei Gaidukevich will deliver a speech on the necessity to legitimize the lower chamber of the “parliament”.

---

“They are playing a foul game,” – commented the leader of the national trade union of automobile and agricultural machinery Alexander Bukhvostov on the ruling of the Council of Federation of the Belarusian trade unions, entitled “On the unification of trade unions and industrial workers”.

---

On February 18 the Belarusian Helsinki Committee presented to the public and journalists a report on the human rights violations in Belarus, drafted by the International Helsinki Federation (IHF). The document, complied on the basis of the materials from 14 BHC public receptions and mass media reports, lists human rights violations’ occurrences, which characterize the situation in general, as well as discloses most blatant abuses over the year 2002. The report also cites the facts of state’s infringement on such fundamental human freedoms as the freedom of speech, associations, conscience, peaceful assemblies and a right for fair trial.

---

Graffiti “Freedom to political prisoners!” signed by ZUBR/BISON appeared on the wall of the prison, where participants of the action “I Love Belarus” on February, 14 are being kept.

---

A little more than a year ago, America was basking in international solidarity generated by the crime of Sept. 11, 2001, and in worldwide admiration for its spectacularly effective military termination of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. A year later, there is perhaps just one country in the world whose public opinion unambiguously supports the prospective U.S. war against Iraq.

---

Looming military invasion of Iraq may seriously damage Belarus’ economic interests, said the head of the commission for economy, budget and finances of the Belarusian “parliament” Aleksei Vaganov, reports “Interfax”. According to the MP, the start of the military campaign is fraught with the rise of prices on energy resources.

---

At the meeting with the Interior Ministry officials Alexander Lukashenko drew their attention to the fact that the whereabouts of over a thousand missing Belarusian nationals remain unknown. The wife of the disappeared Belarusian businessman and public figure Anatoly Krasovsky Irina Krasovskaya called his words cynic.

---

The State committee for frontier troops and the Belarusian Orthodox church signed yesterday a cooperation agreement. The persons, whose signatures were put under its text, were the head of the committee, lieutenant-general Alexander Pavlovsky and the archbishop of the Belarusian Orthodox church Filaret.

---

Iraqi ambassador in Belarus Salman Zeidan didn’t rule out a possibility of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s trip to Minsk, of which he spoke on February 18 during the press-conference in Minsk, dedicated to the latest situation developments around Iraq. Salman Zeidan emphasized that Hussein will visit Minsk in no time after his official invitation to do so by the Belarusian leadership.

---

In the year 2002 Belarus increased trade turnover with Asian and African countries. It mostly supplies to these regions fertilizers, special machinery and metallurgic goods. In general, the volume of Belarusian export to Asian countries constituted over $510mln and rose by 15%. The African continent received from Belarus goods worth $80,3mln, which is 6,2% more than in the previous year. Meantime, Belarus sells more than it buys from both Asia and Africa, for the exterior trade balance with these regions is positive.

---

Iraq takes interest in the cooperation development with the Republic of Belarus, said yesterday in the public press-center of the Palace of press during the meeting with journalists Iraq’s plenipotentiary ambassador in Belarus Salman Zeidan. In his view, Belarus has real opportunity to actively collaborate with Iraq in all diverse spheres of national economy. “I’d like Belarus to top the list of Iraq’s trade turnover,” – underscored Salman Zeidan: “Your country is a reliable and worthy partner. We are aspiring to develop trade-economic and political relations with Belarus.”

---