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NATIONAL NEWS
President of Belarus Addressed the Nation and the Parliament
Belarus is a sovereign state with an independent, strong and truly democratic policy, president of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko stated on April 19 when delivering his Annual Message to the Belarusian people and the National Assembly.
The Message was divided into several topics: economy, implementation of new technologies, the people and the land, social policy and healthcare, culture, government, security, foreign policy, Second World War and the Great Victory, ideology of patriotism.
Belarus nowadays is in a completely new stage of development. Positive results reached in different areas will allow Belarus to provide steady movement ahead, said the president.
Time passed, when the nation was on its knees, when miserable salaries had been eaten away by hyperinflation, and the society was shaken by deficit of goods, lack of medicines, permanent stagnation of industry and almost total unemployment.
The president shared the recent UN data: only about 2% of the Belarusian population lives for the minimum of $2 per day or $60 per month. These are good figures even if compared with economically developed countries.
Last fall’s referendum clearly showed that the Belarusians realize that the government protects their interests and addresses their urgent issues, noted the president.
It is expected that the GDP production in Belarus in the next five years will grow by 44% instead of 35% forecasted 5 years ago. The industrial production will increase by 50% in comparison with earlier projected 28%. The growth of the agricultural products’ output is envisaged at the level of 35% against 22%. Capital investments will grow by 75% against 60%. All this will let the level of the average wage reach the total amount of $250 by the end of 2005.
Alexander Lukashenko mentioned statements made by the United States that the Belarusian president supposedly has foreign accounts. “For three years now that they have been looking for the accounts. The more they throw stones at me the less the Belarusians believe them”.
“It is possible that our independence is undesirable for some countries. However, we are not going to renounce it”. The West allocated considerable funds for the information pressure on Belarus. “We can counteract this only by telling the truth”. Those, who speak about the lack of democracy in Belarus, fail to ensure the democracy themselves. “The systematic violations at the presidential elections in the USA and referendums on the EU accession by new members testify to the fact”.
Belarus is interested in resuming a full-scale dialogue with the U.S. taking into account the development of trade relations, but without political pressure from the U.S.
“We will not accept political pressure and threats to use sanctions. We hope common sense will prevail,” Lukashenko said.
Belarusian multi-vector foreign policy envisages strengthening of contacts with all countries of the world. “In 2004 the trade turnover with Asian and African countries rose by 50% and for the first time exceeded $1 billion. We reached a new cooperation level with China, India, Iran, Persian Gulf countries and a number of other states,” the president said.
Belarus will continue supporting the enhancement of the United Nations’ role in settling international problems. At the same time, Belarus is against attempts to politicize the UN. “Negative political tendencies become apparent in the activity of the OSCE. Belarus comes out for reforming this institution together with Russia, Kazakhstan and some other countries,” president Lukashenko said.
“Our foreign policy can be characterized as adequate and consistent. This is the position of a country that knows what it is worth and respects itself and others,” the president said.
The president is convinced that it is necessary to develop tourism industry. “Belarus is a unique country with a rich natural potential”. Its territory includes over 15,000 objects, which have historical, cultural and architectural value. “We should arouse the interest of thousands of foreigners to visit our country in order to see all this beauty. We should create a relevant system which would be able to invest the money of Belarusian people and foreigners into our economy”, Alexander Lukashenko considers.
The complete text of the Message can be found at the web site of National News Agency
http://president.gov.by/rus/president/speech/2005/.
UN Resolution on Belarus Was Approved under Unprecedented US Pressure
A resolution on human rights in Belarus at the 61st Committee on Human Rights was approved under unprecedented pressure from the USA on the members of the Committee, - said Head of information Department of the MFA of Belarus Ruslan Esin.
"It is obvious, that the US is trying to take revenge for its defeat at 59th session of the UN General Assembly, when the draft resolution on Belarus was denied by international community. Even under such conditions a lot of member-states of the Committee (30 of 53) did not support the initiative. Belarus has the same approaches: we are not accepting the resolution either in form or in contents. It does not have any legal effect and has recommendatory status", - stated Ruslan Esin.
First Belarusian Space Satellite "BelKa" Will be Delivered into Orbit in December
First Belarusian space satellite "BelKa" will be delivered into the orbit of the Earth on December 5, 2005. Russian booster "Dnepr" will carry "BelKa" to the altitude of 510-515 km. The Belarusian satellite will be used for five years for geodesic, cartographic and meteorological purposes.
There are only three satellites in the world of such kind. Two of them belong to the USA and one to Taiwan. According to technical data, "BelKa" will become one of the best in the world.
"BelKa" is a Belarusian space satellite for remote sensing of the surface of the Earth. It was designed by Russian Rocket and Space Corporation "Energia" on the base of universal space platform "Victoria" at the request of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. The satellite is being assembled in the Belarusian enterprise "Piling".
An estimated cost of the satellite is about 9 mln USD, which is dozens of times cheaper than the US analogues. It is expected that all expenses for the new spacecraft would be covered in the first six months of its exploitation.
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