MINSK, 4 March (BelTA) – Holding companies may be set up in Belarus to manufacture mineral fertilizers and oil products, Vladimir Sobol, Head of the Organizational Management Improvement Office of the Belarusian Economy Ministry, told media on 4 March. In line with decree No 660 “Establishment and operation of holding companies in Belarus” of 28 December 2009 holding companies are supposed to stem from manufacturing corporations. The number includes Belaruskali that will be the...

MINSK, 4 March (BelTA) – President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has severely criticized the efforts put by the government into attracting foreign investments into the country. Alexander Lukashenko made the relevant statement as he heard out a government report on this matter on 4 March. “I have to admit that the situation around attracting foreign direct investments to the Belarusian economy cannot inspire optimism,” stressed the head of state. He also added that gross figures are...

MINSK, 3 March (BelTA) – Subsidized loans can now cover 100% of the cost of the living space standard, for which preferential loans are granted, for the building and rebuilding of residential homes (except for large families that get a subsidized loan to cover 95% of the construction cost and a one-time subsidy to cover 5% of the construction cost). The change was brought about by Belarus president decree No 120 of 1 March. The decree amended and expanded decree No 185 of 14 April 2000, the...

MINSK, 2 March (BelTA) – Almost Br387 billion of Belarus’ budget was injected in the state integrated program on developing regions, small and medium-sized towns in 2009, Economy Minister of Belarus Nikolai Snopkov said at a session of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers on 2 March. It totaled 95.3% of the preset annual amount. The sum included nearly Br83 billion of the national budget, Br162 billion of oblast budgets and about Br31 billion of the regional budgets. “On the...

MINSK, 1 March (BelTA) – A delegation of the NATO Headquarters and the Belarusian Defence Ministry are holding consultations on the Partnership for Peace Program in Minsk, BelTA learnt from the press service of the Belarusian Defence Ministry. The NATO delegation arrived in Belarus on 28 February. Apart from participation in the program, the NATO representatives and the Belarusian side will discuss the results of the implementation of the program. On 2 March, Major General Alexander...

17:03:41 25/2 F,АНГЛ/ 89,САГО MINSK, 25 February (BelTA) – The Agriculture and Food Ministry of Belarus invites Russian businessmen to invest in the Belarusian agricultural industry, Deputy Agriculture and Food Minister of Belarus Leonid Marinich said during the Belarusian-Russian economic forum, Prospects of Business Cooperation Development between Belarus and Russia, on 25 February. In his words, Belarus’ agrarian sector is attractive for investors today. Belarus sets forth...

MINSK, 24 February (BelTA) – Belarus has paid in full for the Russian gas consumed in January, First Deputy Director General, Chief Engineer of Beltransgaz Tsvitomir Sorokhan told reporters on 24 February, BelTA has learnt. “We act in a strict compliance with the contract. We have transferred the due amount of money for the natural gas bought in January to Gazprom,” the Beltransgaz First Deputy Director General said. In Q1 2010 Belarus will pay about $168 per 1,000 cubic meters of...

MINSK, 23 February (BelTA) – Belarus’ Year of Quality covers all areas of life and should be the year when new quality goals in training and development of the Armed Forces, other troops and military units in Belarus will be reached. The statement was made by Alexander Lukashenko at a solemn reception held on 23 February to mark the Fatherland Defenders and Armed Forces Day. The Belarusian head of state underlined that in the year of the 65th anniversary of the Victory in the Great...

MINSK, 22 February (BelTA) – Belarus’ experience in the preservation of cultural traditions has aroused a huge interest in the international community, BelTA learnt from Galina Polyanskaya Chairperson of the Permanent Committee for Housing Policy, Construction, Trade and Privatization of the House of Representatives, head of the delegation of the National Assembly of Belarus at the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (IPAO). She took part in an international conference in Lebanon....

MINSK, 19 February (BelTA) – In 2009 investor confidence moved up nine notches to 78%, the assistant professor of the global economy department of the Belarusian State Economic University Elena Petrushkevich said at a session of the Advisory Committee for Foreign Investment under the Council of ministers of Belarus. She presented the results of the sociological poll among commercial organizations with foreign investments which was held in October-November 2009. The poll shows that the...