Minsk authorities assured Alyaksandr Bukhvostau, the chairman of the steering committee that they would provide premises for holding an oppositional national congress expected to elect a single opposition candidate in the 2006 presidential race. The head of the ideology department of the Minsk City Executive Committee recommended a building of the Palace of Culture of Minsk Automobile Plant. However a pert of opposition activists fear provocations by authorities during the congress.
“The Belarusian delegation will support draft resolution of the General Assembly concerning necessity to stop economical, trade and financial blockade, introduced by the USA against Cuba”, told deputy Foreign Minister of Belarus Viktar Hajsionak at a press conference in Minsk today. The press conference was dedicated to the participation of Belarusian delegation in the work of the 60th session of the UN General Assembly.
The OSCE should stay a forum for discussing problems of security, and not to be used as a punitive agency against some states, told deputy Foreign Minister of Belarus Viktar Hajsionak at a press conference in Minsk on Wednesday.
Alexander Lukashenko is to attend this week`s U.N. summit in New York, a rare visit to a major meeting by a leader accused in the West of systematic rights violations.
His office said in a statement on Tuesday he would take part in the three-day summit, which opens on Wednesday and is devoted to checking fulfilment of commitments made at the U.N.`s 2000 Millennium Summit, which Lukashenko also attended.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has called Lukashenko Europe`s last dictator and European Union countries have slapped travel restrictions on him and top officials.
Belarus will fight western countries` practice of using human rights issues to justify policies of double standards, Belarussian Deputy Foreign Minister Viktor Gaisenok said.
German Social Democrats intensely watch over the fate of the leader of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Narodnaya Hramada) Mikola Statkevich. Frank Schauff, the head of the International politics’ department of the Social-Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) told to the BalePAN reporter. “We have very good personal relations with Mister Statkevich. He personally knows Gerhard Schroeder and other SDP leaders, he often came to us as a guest,” F.Schauff said.
Belarus advocates changes in the UN Security Council and “increase of authority and legitimacy of decisions made by that structure”, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told to a BELTA correspondent.
On September 14 at the noon activists of the BAZ (Belarusian-American Association, Belaruska-Amerykanskaye Zadzinochanne) hold a picket in front of the building of the UN. Protesters initially meet at 11.45 a.m. by the New York Public Library, and later representatives of the Belarusian diaspora are to march to the place of the picket via the hotel “Waldorf-Astoria”, where Alyaksandr Lukashenka stays.
On September 14 a visit of Belarusian president Alyaksandr Lukashenka to the UN in New York, where he is to take part in the special plenary session of the 60th Session of the UN starts. 175 leaders of the states of the world are to gather for the anniversary session. Lukashenka’s speech is planned for September 15. Belarusian president is restricted to travel abroad because of visa sanctions against him by the USA and the EU countries. What is the attitude of well-known people of Belarus towards Lukashenka’s visit?
Valiantsina Kulak, new chair of the ideology department of Pinsk City Executive Committee, started his work with ordering Aliaksandr Kolba, the main specialist of the department, to personally phone to all heads of organizations and enterprises of Pinsk and say the had to obligatory sign to Sovetskaya Belorussiya newspaper, the organ of state propaganda.
The Congress of Democratic Forces is appointed on 1-2 October. The delegates are to elect the single candidate of the opposition who will take part in the presidential election. Recently Aliaksandr Lukashenka has ordered Minsk City Executive Committee to rent a hall for the measure. Before it the opposition had difficulties with it and negotiated about renting the House of Officers and the Congress Hall in Kyiv (the Ukraine) and lodging the delegates at different boarding houses not far from the city. The representative of the organization committee Valiery Ukhnaliou is sure that Lukashenka agreed to holding of the congress in Minsk because of this agreement, which is left in force as a reserve variant.
Is the CIS dead? The recent summit, held in Kazan, Tatarstan, despite official publicity making much of an occasion that coincided with the 1,000th anniversary of the city, provided clear signs that the association has become practically defunct, and little more than ceremonial.
A Belarusian delegation is attending a round of high-level consultations on reforming the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) that opened in Vienna on September 12.
Ten labor union organizations have nominated Aleksandr Lukashenko as a delegate to a convention of the pro-government Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus (FTUB). The Belarusian leader has yet to decide what organization to represent at the forum, FTUB Chairman Leonid Kozik, who once held a top post in the Presidential Administration, told reporters in Minsk on Tuesday. "We have sent a special letter to the president asking him to make up his mind on the matter," he added.
Belarus ranks 106th among 155 nations in business environment, according to a new annual report from the World Bank Group that was released on Tuesday. The repot, titled "Doing Business in 2006: Creating Jobs," which was cosponsored by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation, ranks countries on key business regulations and reforms.
A mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was scheduled to arrive in Minsk on September 13 to assess the country`s macroeconomic situation, the press office of the IMF Office in Belarus told BelaPAN.
It has taken us a long time to get to Minsk, capital of Belarus. Nine years, to be exact. My husband, Paul, and I travel to Lithuania frequently, spending most of our time in its capital, Vilnius. When we discovered that Vilnius is only 106 miles from Minsk, we thought it would be fairly easy to zip over for several days.
The European Commission plans to launch a pilot programme in Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine to offer protection to refugees and manage migration flows. Friso Roscam Abbing, spokesman for the European Union`s commissioner for justice, freedom and security, told Belapan that the countries were selected for the pilot programme due to a number of important factors, including "the assessment of the particular refugee situation in third countries", financial opportunities available under existing EU funds, existing relationships and frameworks for cooperation between the 25-nation bloc and particular countries or regions.
Belarusian border guards hope to complete Baltic border facilities construction by 2009, the chairman of the Belarusian State Border Troops Committee, Lt-Gen Alyaksandr Pawlowski, told Interfax.
Belarus’ General Prosecutor’s Office has filed criminal charges against "a group of businessmen" involved in providing "underground" IP-telephony international long-distance services, a spokesman with the country’s General Prosecutor’s Office said, ITAR-TASS reported Monday.
The program on demographic safety of Belarus for 2006-2010 is aimed at reducing untimely mortality, prolonging life expectancy, stimulating birth rate and intensifying migration processes. The draft program was considered at a sitting of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers September 12 presided by prime minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorskiy.
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