Unlike Belarus, Italy has already ratified the Belarusian-Italian interstate agreement on Belarusian children’s recuperative holidays in Italy, the Italian embassy said in its November 29 press release.
Belarusian children’s recuperative holidays in Italy will become possible only after that country ratifies an agreement on this matter, Alyaksandr Zhuk, first deputy minister of education, told the Belarusian National Assembly on Wednesday.
He stressed that permits for Belarusian children’s trips to Italy would be issued only if there were guarantees of their return to their homeland.
“As far back as November 15, 2007, the ambassador of Italy officially notified Belarusian Education Minister Alyaksandr Radzkow in a letter hat all the internal procedures for ratifying the interstate agreement on the recuperative holidays of Belarusian legal minors in Italy had been completed,” the press release said. “Belarus has not yet completed the ratification procedure.”
The House of Representatives of the Belarusian National Assembly passed the ratification bill for the interstate agreement on November 22. It is yet to be passed by the Council of the Republic and signed by Alyaksandr Lukashenka. //BelaPAN
It is necessary to offer incentives to private enterprise in order to develop Belarus’ small cities, Alyaksandr Lukashenka suggested while speaking at a seminar for national- and local-level government officials, which was held in Minsk on November 29.
Additional measures have been taken to boost this process, the Belarusian leader noted, according to government news sources. These measures, he said, include tax rebates, simplified taxation procedures, the sale of unused or inefficiently used state property through auctions with the starting price being equal to the Base Rate ($16.3 at present), and the possibility of releasing control of such properties for use on a gratuitous basis for carrying out “investment projects.”
The implementation of the adopted 2007-10 State Comprehensive Program of the Development of Provinces and Small and Medium-Sized Urban Settlements is under the “tightest supervision,” Mr. Lukashenka stressed, suggesting that the local population should be involved in fulfilling the tasks specified in the Program. “Everyone should work to implement this program,” he was quoted as saying. “People should understand that we are doing this for our children and grandchildren.”
Now that the second year of a five-year term is coming to an end, some preliminary conclusions can be drawn, the head of state said. In particular, he noted, “it is necessary to critically assess the situation to establish where there are shortcomings and where it is necessary to raise the bar in order to successfully fulfill complicated tasks and promptly take additional incentive measures to ensure the highest possible growth of the economy and the development of the social sphere in the provinces.” //BelaPAN
Belarus should achieve 11-percent GDP growth in 2008, said Alyaksandr Lukashenka Friday in his speech concluding a two-day “seminar” for national- and local-level government officials.
“This is an ambitious but workable task, especially as the year 2008 will be the starting one in the economic upturn that we plan to carry out before the end of a five-year term,” the Belarusian leader said. //BelaPAN
Explosive devices were found on rail tracks at a station about 50 kilometers south of Minsk on November 27, disrupting train services on the busy line for a few hours.
As a spokesman for the interior ministry’s transport department told BelaPAN, a suspicious parcel was discovered at the Neharelaye station, Minsk region, at 12:15 p.m. and a section of the Minsk-Brest line remained closed until the find was taken away by a bomb disposal squad a few hours later.
BelaPAN has learnt that the parcel contained a hand grenade and four blocks of TNT. The police insist that the devices lacked important components and could not detonate.
Criminal proceedings under Article 360 of the Criminal Code, which penalizes sabotage, have been launched in connection with the incident. The case is being investigated by the Committee for State Security.
The Belarusian agriculture ministry plans to extend the list of agricultural products exported to Georgia, Yakaw Pustashyla, head of the ministry’s main external economic relations department, told BelaPAN.
According to him, this subject was discussed with Georgian Agriculture Minister Petre Tsiskarishvili, who arrived Tuesday in Minsk on a three-day visit.
The Belarusian delegation to the talks was led by First Deputy Minister Nadzeya Katkavets.
“We offered a wide range of finished meat and dairy products for export,” Mr. Pustashyla said. “Belarus exports some milk powder and butter to Georgia, but, as Katkavets noted, both countries believe that exports totaling $1 million are not enough.”
Georgia’s offer of bulk shipments of citrus fruit, persimmon, apples and juice concentrates to Belarus will be discussed at a meeting that the Georgian delegation is to have at the trade ministry, Mr. Pustashyla said.
Georgia is also interested in buying Belarusian tractors, he noted, adding that the Georgian delegation would therefore visit the Minsk Tractor Works on Wednesday.
The Georgian guests were also expected to meet with Belarusian veterinary officials to discuss how the two countries’ veterinary services can exchange experience. Mr. Tsiskarishvili was to have a one-on-one meeting with Agriculture Minister Leanid Rusak.
According to Georgian news sources, Georgian businesspeople on the delegation, plan to negotiate with Belarusian entrepreneurs about sales of Georgian farm products.
Georgia’s exports of apples and citrus fruit are expected to total 10,000 to 15,000 tons in 2007.
Twenty-six non-governmental organizations were liquidated through court and 48 more NGOs dissolved earlier this year, Aleh Slizhewski, a departmental chief at the justice ministry, told reporters in Minsk on November 28.
Most of the liquidation suits against NGOs were initiated by the organizations themselves, the official stressed, referring to the closure of the Belarusian Party of Greens. “The party had fewer than the required 1,000 members and had no chapters in the provinces. As a result, the party wanted to dissolve itself, but its supreme body was unable to hold a meeting and the case went to court,” he explained.
“On the whole, we welcome each new non-governmental organization irrespective of its status, be it a national, city or local organization, but when an organization carries out no activities two or three years after its registration, is not located at its legal address, does not answer phone calls, this organization may be closed through court or it may hold a conference and make a decision on dissolution itself under the law,” Justice Minister Viktar Halavanaw said.
As many as 2,263 NGOs, 19 unions of non-governmental organizations, 61 foundations, 15 political parties and 36 national trade unions were registered in Belarus as of November 1, 2007. Seventy-two new organizations and five foundations were registered in the first nine months of 2007. //BelaPAN
Two small business activists have been jailed for advertising a rally that an association plans to hold in downtown Minsk on December 10.
Alyaksandr Talstyka and Ruslan Lutsenka were arrested while passing out leaflets promoting the protest at a shopping center on Wednesday evening. They were taken to the Frunzenski district police department and spent the night there.
As opposition politician Vyachaslaw Siwchyk told BelaPAN, Alena Nyakrasava, a judge of the Zavadski District Court, on Thursday sentenced Messrs. Lutsenka and Talstyka to 10 and seven days in jail, respectively, finding them guilty of violating rules governing the organization of mass events.
According to Mr. Siwchyk, the trial was held behind closed doors. The activists’ relatives and associates and human rights defenders were barred from the courtroom.
Mr. Talstyka is a member of an unregistered organization named For Free Development of Enterprise and an organizer of the rally.
The organization applied to the Minsk City Executive Committee for permission to hold the rally on Kastrychnitskaya Square earlier this month, but the authorities have yet to respond.
The rally would be held in protest against Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s Edict No. 760, which will ban business owners holding the status of sole entrepreneurs from hiring workers other than three family members after January 1, 2008.
Prime Minister Syarhey Sidorski has promised that the amount of subsidies to jobless people planning to start a business will be raised from 10 to 15 times the Subsistence Minimum Budget.
While speaking at a government conference on November 29, the premier stressed that the money would be provided for specific manufacturing business start-ups, according to official information sources.
The Council of Ministers has already come up with a draft resolution regarding support for unemployed people willing to start a business.
Mr. Sidorski reportedly noted that authorities in small towns had devoted too little attention to small business support, urging them to offer more assistance to private businesses. “Above all, this concerns property support for small businesses that involves giving them unused or inefficiently used state property,” he was quoted as saying.
The government has already agreed to sell 41 state-run facilities at an auction, with the starting price being equal to the Base Rate ($16.3 at present), Mr. Sidorski said.
The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill confirming Belarus’ succession to a British-Soviet agreement on cooperation in the spheres of healthcare and medical science.
The UK and the Soviet Union signed the agreement in 1975.
The British foreign office and the country’s Minsk-based embassy announced in 2005 that the UK treated the accord as valid for relations with Belarus.
While introducing the bill to the lower parliamentary chamber, Health Minister Vasil Zharko said that the agreement entitled Belarusian citizens to free emergency medical aid on the UK territory without medical insurance.
The British government expressed hope that UK citizens would enjoy the same conditions in Belarus.
Mr. Zharko stressed that the country’s succession to the agreement was to be confirmed on Britain’s initiative. //BelaPAN
Belarusian children’s recuperative holidays in Italy will become possible only after that country ratifies an agreement on this matter, Alyaksandr Zhuk, first deputy minister of education, told the National Assembly on Wednesday.
He stressed that permits for Belarusian children’s trips to Italy would be issued only if there were guarantees of their return to their homeland.
The House of Representatives of the Belarusian National Assembly passed the ratification bill for the interstate agreement on November 22.
Education Minister Alyaksandr Radzkow then told the House that the accord, signed in Minsk on May 10, would guarantee the protection of the rights and interests of Belarusian children during their recuperative stay in Italy.
According to Mr. Radzkow, the agreement gives such children the status of Belarusian citizens and makes a distinction between recuperative stay and international adoption. That is why the host Italian families may not claim the right to adopt.
Under the agreement, the Italian organizations that provide Belarusian children with vacation opportunities shall also cover all expenses, supervise the observance of all rules that apply to recuperative holidays in Italy and ensure the children’s timely return to their homeland, Mr. Radzkow noted.
“The Italian side is assuring us that all preparatory procedures for the ratification of the document in Italy have already been completed,” he said. “Owing to their temperament, the Italians are often not very organized in this respect.”
It is necessary to ensure the recuperation of Belarusian children in their homeland, the minister stressed, adding that the government spends “huge money” for children’s regular recuperative periods.
Mr. Radzkow claimed that the radiation doses that children receive while flying to Italy are larger than the amount of radiation they are exposed to by virtue of living in Chernobyl-affected areas.
Ireland and Israel have also expressed an interest in signing a similar agreement, Mr. Radzkow said. “We’ve sent them a draft of such an agreement for familiarization,” he added.
According to the minister, 17,500 Belarusian children annually spend their recuperative holidays in Italy, about 3,000 in Germany, 2,500 in Ireland, 2,500 in Israel, and nearly 1000 in the United States. //BelaPAN
30 November 2007