Boris Batura was elected Chairman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the fourth convocation at the first session of the upper chamber of the parliament on October 31. 49 deputies voted in favour, no one against, BelTA informs. Boris Batura was born in the town of Volkovysk of the Grodno oblast in 1947. He graduated from the Belarusian Polytechnical Institute in 1970. An honoured worker of the service industry of the Republic of Belarus. He worked as a shop foreman, an...

In the present conditions Belarusian companies should be self-dependent instead of waiting for government aid, the press service of the head of state quoted President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko as saying on October 31 as the President made several personnel decisions. “These days in view of the global crisis some managers are relaxed and think they can slack off. Seeing that in many countries money is accumulated and handed over to economic entities, our managers think: why don’t we...

At present considerable steps should be made to liberalise the economy and de-bureaucratise the entire system in Belarus, said Belarusian head of state Alexander Lukashenko at a government session dedicated to domestic and foreign policy affairs on October 30. Alexander Lukashenko thanked the Belarusians for their trust in the banking system. “I would like to thank the nation for the way people act now in view of the global financial crisis. Our people trust the banking system. Thanks to...

By 2010, some Br128 billion will be assigned to help the companies from the Chernobyl-affected regions of the Gomel and Mogilev oblasts to redeploy into other areas of activity. The decision was passed at an on-site session of the Chernobyl department of the Belarusian Emergencies Ministry which was held in Gomel. The session analyzed the implementation of the programmes on redeployment of agricultural companies in those regions. Since 2002 the state has allocated Br101 billion for these...

The Government of Belarus and China EXIM BANK signed an agreement on extending a preferential governmental loan to Belarus. The document was signed by Finance Minister of Belarus Andrei Kharkovets and EXIM BANK Chairman and President Li Ruogu. The sides signed buyer credit agreements to purchase an all-dry cement production line for Krichevtsementoshifer and to construct the second line at the Belarusian Cement Plant. According to Andrei Kharkovets, the total sum of the loan agreements is...

Chernobyl-related issues continue to be the main focus of the cooperation between the Emergencies Services of Belarus and Ukraine in 2009-2011, said Emergencies Minister of Belarus Enver Bariev and Emergencies Minister of Ukraine Vladimir Shandra commenting on the results of the session of the joint Belarusian-Ukrainian committee on cooperation in the area of emergencies prevention and response that was held in Gomel. The participants of the briefing pointed out the high efficiency of the...

In 2008 Belarus will meet the investments growth target which is 25%, Economy Minister Nikolai Zaichenko said at a session of the Council of Ministers on October 28. According to him, in January-September capital investments increased by 23.2%. The Economy Ministry and other government bodies have been carrying out comprehensive work to ensure the growth of investments. “The investment growth schedules have been set out for every ministry, concern, region. We will no doubt reach the 25%...

Vladimir Andreichenko was elected Chairman of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus of the fourth convocation at the first plenary session on October 27. 107 deputies voted in favour, one against, BelTA informs. Vladimir Andreichenko was born in 1949 in the village of Maryanovo, Liozno region, Vitebsk oblast. He graduated from the Luzhesno agriculture college in 1968; Velikie Luki Agriculture Institute (Russia) 1977; Minsk Higher Communist Party School. An honoured...

While ethnic and religious conflicts are ablaze in various parts of the planet, internal peace and social balance are preserved in Belarus. Efforts of the orthodox church played their part in achieving this result, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko remarked during a meeting with representatives of the orthodox church on October 24. Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II and Metropolitan of Minsk and Slutsk, Patriarchal Exarch for All Belarus Filaret were present during the...

The potential of economic cooperation between Belarus and Russia is not used to the full, Nikolai Bortsov, a deputy of the Russian State Duma, a member of the economic policy commission of the Parliamentary Union of the Belarus-Russia Union State, said during a seminar on the issues concerning the construction of the Belarus-Russia Union State. The seminar was held in Soligorsk (Kaliningrad oblast, Russian Federation) on October 23. The mutual investments and the mutual trade have...