By 2011, about 105 thousand of new working places will be set up in small and medium towns of Belarus. The draft state program of development of regions, small and medium towns for 2006-2010 has been considered today by a sitting of the Council of Ministers led by Belarusian prime minister Sergey Sidorskiy. According to the prime minister, the program of development should be designed for every region and then, it should be agreed with the corresponding oblast executive committee. The...

Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko received Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Vietnam to Belarus Vu Xuan Ninh on December 22. The press service of the Belarusian leader informed BelTA, during the meeting the sides discussed preparations for Belarus president’s visit to Vietnam. The sides agreed the visit would take place in the next few months.

When speaking at a ceremony to swear in judge of the Constitutional Court Stanislav Danilyuk president of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko disadvised a dogmatic approach in the Constitutional Court activities. The head of state noted that the decision-making should be based on current situation and the Constitution allows doing that. “Everything that has been said above should be applied in the process of drafting an annual message about the state of constitutional law and order in the...

The election of members of the local councils of deputies has been going on smoothly without any scandals, head of the central election committee of Belarus Lydia Yermoshina informed today during a sitting highlighting the results of candidates’ registration. Over the last two months of the election campaign there were no serious violations of the election legislation, Lydia Yermoshina noted. She informed that on average there are 1,1 candidates per one deputy mandate due to the low...

On December 14, the Chamber of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus has approved a draft mortgage bill at the first reading. Piotr Zhabko, first deputy economy minister, has said that if passed the bill will lay the groundwork for mortgage legislation in Belarus since what now exists is not enough to properly regulate the relations in this sphere. Now, mortgage relations are regulated by the Civil Code, the mortgage law and by a number of other regulatory legal documents....

The registration of candidates to deputies of local councils will end on December 14. After this the candidates will stump the country, said Nikolay Lozovik, secretary of the Belarus’ central election commission. According to him, the competition is approximately 1,1 persons per mandate. All in all there are 24,397 applicants and 22,658 vacancies. Almost one half of the candidates have been picked up through citizens’ signature lists, another 10,014 candidates have been nominated by...

The 2007 budget is a budget for the people, Belarus’ premier Sergei Sidorskiy told reporters today. The wording of the draft 2007 budget submitted to deputies is the most balanced of all that specialists have come up with. The 2007 budget parameters hinge on many external factors, he said, which have been taken into account. “The head of state has said that we are building the state for the people. This is why every year the budget is formed also for the people,” the premier said....

Belarus wants to join efforts with law enforcement bodies of Russia and Ukraine to fight crime, president of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said today while meeting with interior minister of Russia Rashid Nurgaliev and interior minister of Ukraine Vasiliy Tsushko. Attending the meeting was Belarus' interior minister Vladimir Naumov. Alexander Lukashenko focused his attention on the importance of expanding contacts between law enforcement bodies of the three countries. Contacts between...

Two charitable actions “Christmas Miracles” and “Our Children” have started in Gomel oblast. The traditional actions will run until the end of December. The events are held with an active assistance of the Gomel town organization “Belarusian Republican Union of Youth” and the town center of social services for families and children, second secretary of the town youth organization Vladimir Vosarev told BelTA. During the action “Christmas Miracles”, the regional committees of...

The National Bank of Belarus expects the real effective exchange rate of the Belarusian ruble to be stable in 2007. Deputy chairman of the NBB board Nikolai Luzgin told the press today, the national major monetary management guidelines for 2007 expect the variation range of the Belarusian ruble exchange rate against the Russian ruble and US dollar to expand in comparison with 2006. In 2007 taking into account the foreign exchange market and the foreign trade status, the exchange rate of the...