Belarus will conclude agreements with the neighbouring states on the simplified border crossing procedures for the population living in the border areas after the accession of these countries to the Schengen zone scheduled for January 1, 2008, chief of the consular department of Belarus’ Foreign Ministry Andrei Giro told reporters on October 5. This is a preliminary agreement, said the official. At present Belarus has been negotiating the issue relating to the conditions of mutual trips...

Minsk will host a session of the Union State Council of Ministers on October 19, Deputy State Secretary of the Belarus-Russia Union State Sergei Shukhno told BelTA. According to him, the agenda of the session has not changed, it includes 17 items. The key issue is the Union State budget for the next year. A report on budget implementation in 2007 has been prepared. The session will also focus on the results of the trade-economic cooperation between Belarus and Russia in January-June this...

The government will pay household bills of orphans, said Housing Maintenance and Utilities Minister Vladimir Belokhvostov as he presented a new bill at the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus on October 4. The bill is supposed to amend the law regulating guaranteed social protection for orphans and parentless children. The bill has passed the first reading. It specifies the reimbursement of telephone bills, household bills to individuals, who take care of orphans and...

Lithuania is ready to invest in the Belarusian economy about $1 billion. A relevant agreement was made at a meeting between Prime Ministers of Belarus and Lithuania Sergei Sidorsky and Gediminas Kirkilas respectively on October 3 in Vilnius. According to the Lithuanian Prime Minister, local companies asked him to inform the Belarusian Government about their readiness to invest in Belarus. The meeting also focused on the trade-economic cooperation between the two countries. In particular,...

On October 2 deputies of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus approved amendments to the law on employment at the second reading. In line with the amendments having received a court decree containing a decision on employing parents, who have to compensate for the government expenses on maintaining their children, the Belarusian labour, employment and social security bodies should determine one or several organisations for job placement during three working days....

On October 2 at the seventh parliamentary session the Belarusian MPs elected Vadim Popov Chairman of the House of Representatives of Belarus’ National Assembly of the third convocation. Some 107 deputies voted by secret ballots. 94 Belarusian MPs supported the candidate of Vadim Popov and 13 voted against. Five deputies voted yes to the candidate of Sergei Gaidukevich and 102 voted against. Earlier Vadim Popov worked in the House of Representatives of the third convocation as the...

Belarus considers the United Arab Emirates to be its main trading partner in the Persian Gulf region, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said on October 1 when meeting with Khaldoon Khalifa al Mubarak, the Chairman of the Executive Affairs Authority of the Government of Abu Dhabi of the United Arab Emirates. “We have exactly determined our strategic ally and partner in the Persian Gulf region. This is the United Arab Emirates and we are interested in our stronger presence in this...

Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the United Nations member states unanimously supported the Belarusian initiative on the necessity to respect diversity of social systems, cultures and ways of national development of different countries at the meeting on inter-religious dialogue and cooperation for peace in the UN Headquarters. A relevant statement was issued, BelTA learnt in the permanent representative office of the Republic of Belarus at the United Nations Organization. Attending the...

About $500 million will be funneled into the upgrade of Mogilevkhimvolokno production facilities till 2011, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said on September 28 when visiting the company. The Head of State took part in a ceremony of inaugurating a new continuous polycondensation plant. According to him, with this plant in operation Mogilevkhimvolokno will complete the first reconstruction phase. During the previous visit to the company in 2004 the President tasked the Government...

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko made several personnel appointments on September 27. The presidential press service told BelTA, due to changes of the Belarusian border guard structure the head of state appointed: Igor Anatolyevich Rachkovsky — Chairman of the State Border Committee of the Republic of Belarus Vadim Yuryevich Zaitsev — First Deputy Chairman of the State Border Committee of the Republic of Belarus, Chief of the Central Operations Department. The President also...