In Belarus the grain harvesting campaign should be finished by mid-August, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said on July 26 during a video teleconference dedicated to this year’s harvesting campaign progress. The press service of the Belarusian leader told BelTA, the President pointed out that at present grain prices are on the rise in many countries due to the existing unfavourable weather conditions. There is grain in Belarus, it has to be gathered in. “Belarus should count on...

In H1 2007 the Belarusian economy hit 15 out of 19 top priority targets of this year’s social and economic development forecast, BelTA learnt from representatives of the Economy Ministry. In H1 2007 the GDP growth rate totalled 108.6% as against the same period of last year, with this year’s target as high as 108-109%, H1 target — 107.5%. In January-May the GDP energy intensity shrank by 14.4% (the 2007 forecast — 6-7%). Over the six months the industrial output increased by 7.7% up...

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has suggested increasing grain purchases from farmers by 500,000 tonnes. At today’s video teleconference highlighting this year’s harvesting campaign Alexander Lukashenko noted, the government should consider the possibility of having more reserves in case peasants want to sell more grain, for example, 0.5 million tonnes more. According to the President, it would be a profitable investment as grain is likely to get more expensive in view of the...

Following the adoption of a new subsistence wage (set at Br185,360 per capita between August 1 and October 31, 2007), children's allowance paid by the state to families with kids will increase by 3.5% this August, BelTA learnt from representatives of the central department for employment and population policy of the Belarusian Labour and Social Protection Ministry. In August 1 – October 31, 2007 the monthly childcare allowance for children under 3 will total Br120,480, for children over 3...

The harvesting campaign this year has been properly organized, Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky has told reporters today during a working visit to Gomel oblast. About 14,000 combine harvesters are engaged in the campaign. “Now they are set to work 24 hours a day if the weather allows that,” the Prime Minister said. In his words, so far Belarus has harvested over 2.5 million tons of grain. “Tomorrow the head of state will hold a video link meeting focusing on the harvesting...

Today, during the visit to the agricultural company Krivsk of the Buda-Kosheliovo region, Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky valued highly the experience of the company in converting grain dryers to operate on local fuels. As BelTA was told by head of the agricultural company Alexander Podolyarich, Krivsk is one of the basic facilities of the country in ensuring high agro-technical indices. To date the company shows one of the high record crop capacity indices in the republic – 66.5...

On July 23, Belarusian Head of State Alexander Lukashenko received credentials from the Ambassadors of 11 countries: Germany, the Republic of Kenya, the Kingdom of Morocco, the Netherlands, the Sultanate of Oman, Syria, Ukraine, Switzerland, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia and Japan. When addressing the diplomats the President noted that Belarus has developed its own model of socio-economic development and has chosen its way of building the legal democratic state. Belarus will not follow foreign recipes...

Alexander Lukashenko has confirmed Belarus’ readiness to cooperate with Oman in all avenues of bilateral cooperation. The President of Belarus made the statement today as he met with Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdallah, Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs of the Sultanate of Oman. “We will do our utmost to dynamically advance our relations,” stressed the President of Belarus. Alexander Lukashenko noted, he has warm recollections of the recent visit to Oman. “We saw a majestic...

The government of Belarus has showed political will and determination to counter human trafficking and has achieved great results in this area, Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Brunson McKinley said during a ceremony to inaugurate the international centre for training and retraining specialists in combating human trafficking and illegal migration today in Minsk. “The idea to open the centre attests to the desire of the Belarusian government to share...

The hardline and uncompromising policy Belarus leads allows standing up to modern slave trade and ensuring the security of Belarusian people, said Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko during the opening of the international centre for training and retraining specialists in combating human trafficking and illegal migration today. He noted, Belarus has no intention of abandoning the policy and is ready to promote fruitful cooperation with international organisations and interested countries...