On December 6, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko will go to Venezuela on an official visit. Alexander Lukashenko and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez are set to discuss all the issues of cooperation between Belarus and Venezuela, BelTA learnt in the presidential press service. Several important joint documents are expected to be signed in Caracas. During the visit, the Belarusian head of state is to take part in a ceremony of opening the National Exhibition of the Republic...

Belarus plans to revise upwards the inflation projection for 2008 (up to 10-11%). Financial analysts say that initially the inflation rate was projected at 6-8% and was based on the price of $120-123 per 1 thousand cubic meters of energy resources imported from Russia. After the negotiations on December 5 between First Vice-Premier of Belarus Vladimir Semashko and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Gazprom Aleksei Miller on cooperation in gas sphere, it was noted that the execution of the...

The World Bank has approved the new Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) for Belarus for 2008-2011, BelTA has been told in the World Bank Office in Belarus. The new CAS supporting the country’s development was prepared in the course of the consultations with government of Belarus and representatives of organizations, the private sector and international agencies. Over the next four years the World Bank plans to provide about $100 million a year in long-term loans to support the country in...

A draft agreement between the Republic of Belarus and the Commission of the European Communities on establishing, privileges and immunities of the Representative Office of the Commission of the European Communities in Belarus has been initialed. The negotiations on the document in question were held on November 5 in the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Taking part in the negotiations were Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus Valery Voronetsky and head of the representative...

Belarus executes the Union State budget in full, said Deputy State Secretary of the Union State Albert Stepanov when asked by BelTA. He added, this year’s budget execution was quite problematic. The issue had already been discussed by the Council of Ministers and the Permanent Committee of the Union State. Albert Stepanov mentioned several problems impeding the budget execution by Russia, in particular, the fact that the Industry and Energy Ministry slows down the work. It used to be...

On December 13-14, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin will pay an official visit to Belarus. The Supreme State Council of the Belarus-Russia Union State is expected to approve the Union State draft budget for 2008 and to consider a draft Constitutional Act of the Union State. Details of the meeting were discussed on December 4 by Alexander Lukashenko, Chairman of the Supreme State Council of the Union State and President of the Republic of Belarus, and State Secretary of the...

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko plans to visit Venezuela in December. The plans were made public during an interview of Alexander Lukashenko with the Spanish newspaper El Pais, the presidential press service told BelTA. According to the head of state, a major expo will be held in Venezuela in December to highlight Belarusian products. “During his stay in Minsk Hugo Chavez was very interested in Belarus-made products, as they are of good European quality and less expensive. Even...

Prime Ministers of Belarus and Russia Sergei Sidorsky and Viktor Zubkov had a telephone conversation to discuss various aspects of bilateral trade and economic cooperation, BelTA has been told in the press service of the Russian government. Sergei Sidorsky and Viktor Zubkov paid special attention to the agenda of the forthcoming session of the Union State Supreme State Council and a session of the Union State Council of Ministers scheduled for late December.

The President of Belarus has demanded that occupation and worthy living standards should be ensured in small and medium urban communities. Summing up results of the permanent seminar for executives of national and local state administration bodies on November 30, Alexander Lukashenko noted that low incomes of citizens are the acutest social problem in small and medium towns. In small towns salaries make 83% of the country’s average, he stated. While the average salaries approached...

The mutual legal assistance treaty in civil cases will help set up necessary conditions to protect the rights and interests of citizens and legal entities of the two countries, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Republic of Belarus Valery Voronetsky told reporters. A ceremony of exchanging the instruments of ratification of the treaty took place in the Belarusian Foreign Ministry on November 30. Bulgaria was represented by Deputy Foreign Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria Evgenia Koldanova....