At the session of the UN General Assembly the delegation of Belarus pointed to the necessity to enhance the target support of transition economies by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), BelTA learnt in the permanent representative office of Belarus at the United Nations. During the plenary session of the General Assembly highlighting the ECOSOC annual report the Belarusian delegation urged the UN Economic and Social Council to boost technical aid to transition economies...

The Government of Belarus decided that export sales of butter and rennet cheese should be made via exchange auctions only. The Council of Ministers passed resolution #1410 on October 29. Juridical entities and sole traders should sell Belarus-made butter and rennet cheese via Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange. The new regulations will not be applied to the contracts concluded earlier, as Belarusian customs bodies have already issued relevant certificates of supplies. Belarus’...

The Government of Belarus has been working to streamline the price formation for meat and dairy products, Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Andrei Kobyakov told deputies of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus on October 26. In his words, the simplest solution is to level the prices for meat and dairy products with those in Russia or Ukraine to equal the domestic prices with the prices at the foreign market. “But this will raise the issues of inflation and...

There is no space for anti-Semitism in Belarus, said President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko as he met with participants of the international conference “Dialogue between Christianity and Islam in globalisation conditions” on October 26. “If somebody claims that anti-Semitism flourishes in Belarus or that we oppress the Muslim population, don’t believe them. Those are foes and enemies of Belarus. Only they can say such things about this holy land, this holy country, this holy...

The Government of Belarus do not rule out the possibility of raises in utility bills in 2008, Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Andrei Kobyakov told deputies of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus on October 26. In his words, the raising in utility bills will depend on the gas prices. The negotiations on the prices for Russian gas in 2008 are underway now, but it is still unknown how much Belarus will pay. The Vice Premier also reported that after the gas and...

The House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus approved the first reading and the second one of an amnesty bill on October 24. Presenting the bill, Belarus’ Interior Minister Vladimir Naumov remarked, the amnesty will grant freedom to around 1,700 inmates of enclosed-type correctional facilities and around 850 convicts of open-type correctional facilities. In particular, the amnesty will be granted to minor offenders sentenced to up to six years of imprisonment if the...

The Belarusian Ministry of Agriculture and Foodstuffs has proposed to increase purchasing prices for milk by 25%, for beef and pork by 10% and for poultry for 7%, Minister of Agriculture and Foodstuffs Leonid Rusak noted during a session of the ministry on October 24. According to him, the relative resolution of the Council of Ministers on purchasing prices advance will be adopted in the near future. The retail prices will be increased as well but the prices for socially important...

Till the end of 2007 Belarus’ Government plans to increase pension benefits, BelTA learnt from Vladimir Potupchik, the Minister of Labour and Social Security of Belarus. According to him, the ministry is drafting a relevant resolution. Last time pension benefits were increased in Belarus on September 1, 2007 in line with the corresponding decree issued by Belarus’ President. At present there are 2 million 420 thousand pensioners in Belarus registered in the labour, employment and...

Belarus will remain faithful to the CIS integration, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said on October 23 when meeting with Sergei Lebedev, the Chairman of the CIS Executive Committee – the CIS Secretary Executive. According to the Belarusian Head of State, the CIS development concept and the plan of action to implement the concept, which were approved at the CIS summit in Dushanbe, allow the CIS member state focus on concrete aspects in this direction. Belarus took an active part...

Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky set out the task to boost exports of services and take all necessary measures to replace their imports. The export of services has been on an increase recently. However the import of services has been growing faster including that one from the CIS countries (by $79 million in January- September), Sergei Sidorsky said during a session of the Council of Ministers on October 23. According to the Prime Minister, the import of transport services should be...