Belarusian Chernobyl conference to gather 37 countries

Around 1,800 representatives of Belarusian, international and foreign organisations will take part in an international conference "Chernobyl 20 Years Later. Strategy for Affected Areas Revival and Sustainable Development". The conference is scheduled to take place in Minsk and Gomel on April 19-21. It will be dedicated to the 20th anniversary since the Chernobyl power plant tragedy. The information was released by Valeriy Shevchuk, deputy chairperson of the Chernobyl aftermath committee under the Belarusian Council of Ministers, at today's press conference. He said, most applications were filed by Belarus, Russia, Ukraine and other CIS states. On the whole, scientists, political and public figures from 37 countries have reported to be ready to take part in the conference. Valeriy Shevchuk also informed, several representative offices of foreign states and international organisations expressed readiness to fund the conference events. The list of benefactors includes the UNO representative office in Belarus, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the World Bank representative office in Belarus, the OSCE office, UNICEF and embassies of France and Japan. Considerable funds will be allocated from the Union State budget. The deputy chairman of the Chernobyl сommittee noted that the main objectives of the conference will be summarising gained experience on mitigation of consequences of the Chernobyl catastrophe and working out recommendations for the next ten years, exchange of experience in social policy and cooperation development with international organisations on comprehensive rehabilitation of affected regions and people as well as presentation of new programmes and projects. The national organisation committee headed by deputy prime minister of Belarus Alexander Kosinets coordinates all works on preparation for the conference.