WEEKLY DIGEST OF BELARUSIAN NEWS

WEEKLY DIGEST OF BELARUSIAN NEWS

December 9, 2004

NATIONAL NEWS

Alexander Lukashenko Introduces Viktor Sheiman as Head of Presidential Administration

On December 9 President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko officially introduced Viktor Sheiman as Head of the Presidential Administration.

Alexander Lukashenko listed the improvement of management of people’s complaints, personnel policy, tough control over implementation of the socio-economic course of the country and improvement of the legal activity taking into account interests and needs of people the priority directions of the presidential administration’s activities.

Belarus Ratifies UN Convention Against Corruption

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko signed into force the law ratifying the UN Convention Against Corruption. The law was included in the National register of regulatory acts of Belarus.

Belarus will use the convention as a regulatory basis to cooperate with other signatories. The President instructed the prosecutor’s office to coordinate the implementation of the Convention and the Government to take measures to bring national laws in conformity with the Convention.

The document will come into effect 90 days after the UN receives the 30th ratification instrument. The UN Convention against corruption provides an opportunity for the member-states to cooperate to prevent and struggle against corruption. It also provides a regulatory framework to suspend corruption operations, arrest, seize and return revenues from corruption activities.

The anti-corruption convention was adopted by the UN General Assembly on October 31, 2003. The convention was signed by 113 countries and ratified by 11 states as of now. Belarus signed the convention on April 28, 2004.

Belarus to Create Legislative Basis for Combating Human Trafficking

Belarus will create the legislative basis for combating human trafficking, stated Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko while introducing Piotr Miklashevich as Prosecutor General of Belarus.

The President noted that one of the main tasks for Belarus in the near future would be the improvement of the legislative basis. This work should be done taking into account interests and needs of people.

The administration system should overcome the “Soviet period” style. “Today we need thoughtful work”, the President said.

People and the state should be of top priority, the Belarusian leader underlined.

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

NBB Issues New List of Terrorist Organizations whose Accounts Must Be Frozen

The National Bank of Belarus (NBB) submitted to domestic commercial banks the additional list of persons and organizations involved in terrorist activities connected with Al Qaeda and Taliban, whose accounts are to be frozen if revealed in Belarus.

The list now includes Jama’at Al-Tawhid Wa’al-Jihad (JTJ), which is part of Al Qaeda. Before that the list included 112 organizations and 321 individuals. The full list is available on the UN official website.

“If the banks reveal such accounts, they are to report to the NBB immediately. The NBB is supposed to contact the Foreign Ministry and relevant authorities,” the NBB letter addressed to banks stated.

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

Belarus Leading Among CIS Member-States on Industrial Output Growth

For the 10 months of 2004 Belarus is a leading country among CIS states in industrial output growth, the Statistics Committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States stated.

The industrial output in Belarus in January-October 2004 made 16,1% compared with the same period of 2003, in Tajikistan, 15,2%, in Ukraine, 13,6%, in Kazakhstan, 10%, in Kyrgyzstan, 7,1%, in Moldova, 6,3%, in Russia, 6,2%, in Azerbaijan, 5,5%, in Georgia, 4,6%, and in Armenia, 1,5%.

World Bank Experts Arrive in Minsk to Prepare Country Economic Memorandum

A group of the World Bank experts arrived in Minsk to work out the Country Economic Memorandum (CEM). The experts plan to stay in Belarus till December 18. The presentation of the CEM results is scheduled for 2005.

The group will pay special attention to the examination of the economic growth in Belarus and its stability. Experts will be analyzing such factors as macroeconomic policy and risks, results, stimuli and the competitive ability of the Belarusian industry, development of the medium and small business, environment for entrepreneurship development in the country, finances and resources in Belarus economy, foreign trade, competitive ability and integration in the global and regional context and industrial issues (energy, agriculture, and banking activity).

CEM is one of the core diagnostic reports of the Bank, undertaken in every country-member of the Bank on a relatively regular basis (once in 3-4 years).

The last CEM for Belarus was prepared in 1996. A new CEM is envisaged under the recent Country Assistance Strategy and aimed at deepening and widening of the understanding of the Belarusian economy, including the sources of its better-than-expected performance in recent years, expectations for the future under various scenarios, and the relative costs and benefits of future reform strategies.
Working in close interaction with the Belarus Government and the National Bank, the CEM will aim to clarify the options currently open to Belarus in the economic sphere.

By 2010 Bank System of Belarus to Meet All Requirements of European Union

By 2010 the bank system of Belarus will meet all requirements of the European Union. This is the main goal of the conception of the bank system development of Belarus for 2001-2010. On December 1 Chairman of the board of the National Bank of Belarus Piotr Prokopovich informed President Alexander Lukashenko about the course of the implementation of provisions of this program.

According to Piotr Prokopovich, all forecast indices on increasing the resource base of the bank system and volumes of crediting the real sector of economy were fulfilled.

Belarus Unemployment Rate Down To 2% by the End of the Year

Belarusian unemployment rate is to go down to 2% of the economically active population by January 1, 2005 from 2.1% as of November 1, 2004, Belarusian Labor and Social Protection Minister Antonina Morova stated.

As of early 2004 the unemployment rate was at 3.1% of the economically active population. According to the Statistics Ministry, the number of officially registered jobless people in Belarus decreased by 32.9% in January-October to 91,300 as of November 1.

Currently Belarusian labor force is estimated at 4.3 million people, or 43.9% of Belarus total population.

CULTURE AND SOCIETY

First Belarusian Satellite "Belka" to Be Launched by the End of 2005

The fist Belarusian satellite “Belka” will be delivered to orbit in the end of 2005. It was manufactured by a joint team of Belarusian and Russian scientists.

The satellite’s resolution capacity will be second in the world. The spacecraft will help improve effectiveness of Belarusian as well as Russian communication networks. The launch is scheduled to take place from the Russian space launch facility “Plesetsk”.

Integrated Governmental Information System to Be Created in Belarus

A working committee on e-government that was formed in Belarus will submit proposals on integrated information system by January 15, 2005, announced Adviser to the President of Belarus on informatization issues Valeri Tsepkalo.

It is expected that the integrated system, particularly web-based Internet applications will provide citizens and businesses with more convenient access to government information and services based on the Single Window principle.

Valeri Tsepkalo emphasized that the rigid hierarchical vertical structure of Belarusian governing bodies is an indispensable condition for the success of the project unlike in Denmark and Sweden where Ministries are headed by members of different political parties or in federal states like Russia and Germany.

SKIF Supercomputer among World Top 100

Supercomputer SKIF K-1000 which was assembled in autumn this year within the framework of the Belarusian-Russian joint project has been recently installed in Minsk, Belarus. This cluster based on 567 AMD Operton processors was designed by the Institute of Informatics of the National Academy of Science of Belarus. Other participants of the project are the Program Network Institute of the Russian Academy of Science and AMD Corporation. The cluster has a peak performance of 2.5 teraflops and Linpack tested performance of 2,032 teraflops.

SKIF K-1000 supercomputer is the fastest computing system in the Eastern Europe and one of the fastest top 100 computers of the world, holding the 98th position in the world's top 500 rating published on November 9, 2004.

SKIF K-1000 will form the platform for Belarusian National Supercomputer Center.

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