New UN resident coordinator presents her credentials to Prime Minister Sidorsky

Cihan Sultanoglu, the new UNDP Resident Representative in the Republic of Belarus, presented her credentials to Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky on April 21. Ms. Sultanoglu has been working for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) since 1981. Her career has included service with the UNDP offices in Thailand and Malawi (1981-85), service in a number of posts in the UNDP Headquarters in New York (1986-95), and service as UNDP deputy resident representative in Morocco (1996-2000). Since September 2000, she has been UNDP Resident Representative in the Republic of Lithuania. Ms. Sultanoglu graduated from Columbia University, New York. She earned a master's degree in international affairs in international economics and in political and economic development from the School of International Affairs; and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Barnard College. Ms. Sultanoglu is a citizen of Turkey. She speaks English and French.

Lower chamber passes ratification bill for Common Economic Space agreement

The House of Representatives of the Belarusian National Assembly on Friday passed the ratification bill for the agreement with Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine on the formation of a Common Economic Space (CES). The document was signed in Yalta, Ukraine, in September 2003. All the other signatory countries have already ratified the accord. The purpose of the agreement is to create conditions for the stable and efficient development of the national economies and raise the standard of living, Vasily Pugachev, first deputy minister of foreign affairs, said while presenting the bill to the House. According to him, the four CES members account for 94 percent of the Commonwealth of Independent States' GDP, 87 percent of their trade and 84 percent of the population. The agreement is of a framework nature, allowing for so-called multi-level and multi-speed integration, where each member can decide to what extent it should participate in integration, Mr. Pugachev noted. The key objective of the document is to form a trade zone free from restrictions, anti-dumping and compensatory measures. The members are required to follow uniform guidelines on tariff and non-tariff regulation and rules of competition and state support. Special interstate bodies formed with due regard for individual members' levels of integration would coordinate the process of the CES' functioning. The agreement provides for the establishment of a common regulatory body whose powers would be gradually increased. By ratifying the agreement, the four nations will lay a solid foundation for fruitful cooperation and increased integration in the post-Soviet region, said Mr. Pugachev.

Lukashenko speaks for decentralizing control of agricultural sector

Aleksandr Lukashenko suggested decentralizing control of the country's agricultural sector. While visiting the Yelsk district of the Gomel region on April 22, he said that the time has come to put part of the responsibility for the state of affairs in the sector on the shoulders of the heads of regions, the presidential press office reported. Each of the regional governors will be set specific tasks regarding agricultural management in the region, and the president will just tackle strategic matters, including the rural revival program, Mr. Lukashenko was quoted as saying. According to the Belarusian leader, the sowing campaign in the country has been proceeding well. This year the government has not held a traditional teleconference on sowing, but "they are doing sowing work no more badly than when I interfered," he noted. The head of state pointed out that land amelioration would be one of the most important components of the government's rural revival program currently in the pipeline. He added that the system managing the rehabilitation of reclaimed land might be decentralized. "Let the regions do this themselves; we just disturb them," he said. Mr. Lukashenko directed that the country's agricultural organizations be supplied with 1000 new combines this year. He suggested that the quality and competitive capacity of domestically produced agricultural machinery should be considerably increased within a short period of time. "We will support the Belarusian manufacturers of agricultural machinery. But I will no longer press farms. The buyer and the seller will negotiate with each other without my participation. If you make a good combine, then you will manage to market it without difficulty," Mr. Lukashenko noted.

Lukashenko adjusts national budget to ensure prompt funding of Alpine ski center project

Aleksandr Lukashenko, by his presidential edict, has adjusted the 2004 national budget to ensure that public funds are promptly made available for the construction of a national Alpine ski center in the Logoisk district of the Minsk region, the Belarusian leader's press office reported. Such sports and recreational facilities are, as a rule, highly profitable enterprises, which justifies the economic expedience of spending public funds on the project, the press office said.

Lukashenko: Mozyr refinery upgrade is good example of cooperation with Russia

Aleksandr Lukashenko described the modernization of the Mozyr oil refinery in southern Belarus as a good example of Belarusian-Russian cooperation. The upgrade project involved Russia's Slavneft that holds 42.5 percent in the plant. The Belarusian government has a 42.7-percent stake in the enterprise. "We have shown that a 'private-state' enterprise can operate efficiently," the presidential press office quoted Aleksandr Lukashenko as saying during his Friday visit to the refinery. The head of state stressed that the project is of great political importance. While in Mozyr, the Belarusian leader met with Slavneft President Yury Sukhanov and Pavel Borodin, state secretary of the Belarusian-Russian Union State, to discuss further upgrade of the refinery. Mr. Lukashenko stressed that the privatization process should serve the interests of the Belarusian people and state, according to the press office. The government, he said, wants privatization to be civilized and investors to "understand and accept our approaches." The price of privatized enterprises should be reckoned in accordance with their market value and with due regard for their intellectual potential, human resources, infrastructure, reputation and maintenance costs, the Belarusian leader was quoted as saying.

Belarus will not buy electricity from Russia this year, vice premier says

Belarus will not import electricity from Russia this year, Vladimir Semashko, Belarus' deputy prime minister, told reporters in Mozyr on Friday. Belarusian plants produced 31 billion kWh last year, with the nation's annual power generation capacity estimated at 45 billion kWh, the vice premier stressed. "We have excessive capacities, and while we used to import 20 to 25 percent of electricity at a price of 1.25 cents for one kWh in the past, Russia offers electricity at 2.15 cents," Mr. Semashko noted. Belarus stopped importing Russia's electricity in February after a price hike.

Rubel exchange rates for April 23

The National Bank of Belarus set the following official exchange rates for April 23: 1 US dollar  2,153 Belarusian rubels; 1 euro  2,546.57 rubels; 1 Russian ruble  74.29 rubels; 1 Ukrainian hryvnia  404.02 rubels. The official rate of the US dollar rose by one rubel compared with the previous day. The euro rose by 1.94 rubel and the Ukrainian hryvnia by 0.19, while the Russian ruble fell by 0.11. On Friday morning, black market dealers were buying US cash at 2,145-2,150 rubels and selling it at 2,155-2,160 rubels. Commercial banks' exchange outlets were buying the dollar at 2,125-2,145 rubels and selling it at 2,155-2,160 rubels. No change occurred in the black market rate of US cash and its rate at banks' outlets since April 1.

Justice ministry registers new independent union

The Belarusian justice ministry has registered a new trade union formed by activists of dissenting branch unions who quit the pro-government Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus (FTUB) in protest against its policies. The Belarusian Union of Electronic, Automobile, Metalworking and Other Industry Workers (REPAM), as the new union is called, was established by the Belarusian Union of Electronic Industry Workers (BUEIW), which withdrew from the FTUB earlier this year, and former leaders and activists of the FTUB-affiliated Belarusian Union of Automobile and Agricultural Implement Workers (BUAAIW). The REPAM founders described their union's registration as "a truly historic event in Belarus' trade union life." The justice ministry announced its decision on the same day as an International Labor Organization (ILO) commission of enquiry concluded its week-long visit during which it gathered evidence of worker rights violations in Belarus. The REPAM Charter allows workers from all sectors of the economy to join in, while on the other hand it bans membership of employers and persons performing their functions. The new union will be co-chaired by two or more persons elected by a secret ballot. The Charter allows for the deduction of trade union dues from workers' wages and for the collection of dues by a treasurer. Aleksandr Bukhvostov, a REPAM founder, told BelaPAN that the new union is expected to hold its first conference in May to elect the co-chairpersons.

New corresponding members elected to national science academy

Thirty-one new corresponding members of the Belarusian National Academy of Sciences (BNAS) were elected at an April 23 session of the BNAS General Assembly. Six candidacies were withdrawn on various grounds by April 23. Speaking before the secret ballot process, BNAS President Mikhail Myasnikovich urged the gathering  166 academicians and corresponding members  to "be impartial, lay personal prejudice aside and vote according to their conscience." Three candidates  metallurgy researcher Vladimir Timoshpolsky, chemist Sergei Rakhmanov and Constitutional Court Chairman Grigory Vasilevich, a researcher in the field of law,  failed to gain enough votes.

Relatives of missing hail UN human rights commission's resolution

The wives and mothers of missing politicians Viktor Gonchar and Yury Zakharenko and journalist Dmitry Zavadsky have sent a letter to the UN Commission on Human Rights, expressing hope that its recent resolution on Belarus would prompt the Belarusian authorities to investigate the disappearances. The letter was signed by Gonchar's wife, Zinaida, on behalf of the disappeared figures' mothers. In the April 15 document, the Commission expressed deep concern about reports from credible sources implicating senior officials of the Belarusian government in the disappearances. The sponsors of the resolution urged the Belarusian authorities to suspend the involved officials and conduct an impartial inquiry. The women expressed their gratitude for the resolution. "We are grateful to you that the problem of the abductions of our relatives, the political opponents of the current regime and the journalist, has remained a subject of discussion at such a high level," the letter reads. The relatives have welcomed the Commission's decision to appoint a special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Belarus.

Supreme Court liquidates two think tanks

Belarus' Supreme Court on April 22 ordered the liquidation of two think tanks the Belarusian Center of Constitutionalism and Comparative Legal Studies (BCCCLS) and the International Institute of Political Studies  for irregularities in founding documents and for using an unregistered office. Both organizations have been inactive lately, Alena Andreyeva, spokeswoman for the Assembly of Belarusian Pro-Democratic NGOs, told BelaPAN. Both had a considerable weight in Belarus and abroad in the past, Ms. Andreyeva added. The BCCCLS, for instance, incorporated ex-judges of the Constitutional Court.

Government to develop application of non-custodial penalties, official says

The Belarusian government plans to develop the application of non-custodial sentences, Kazimir Shevchik, deputy chief of the interior ministry's Penal Department, said at a round-table conference held in Minsk on Friday. The conference had been organized by the Penal Department, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the OSCE Office in Minsk, the Moscow office of the Penal Reform International and the Belarusian office of the Central and East European Law Initiative of the American Bar Association (ABA/CEELI). Under the new legal framework governing criminal punishment, the Belarusian government applies some 10 types of non-custodial penalties, including community service, fines, prohibitions against certain positions and activities, corrective labor, freedom restriction, probation, etc. In 2003, such sentences were given to 57 percent of convicts against 53 percent in 2002, the official stressed. The government intends to develop the application of freedom restriction sentences, which currently account for almost 12 percent of the total number of non-custodial penalties, according to Mr. Shevchik. Belarus has 49 open-type correctional facilities that house an average of 100 to 150 convicts serving freedom restriction sentences. Such convicts have increased in number by 2,000 to 7,120 in the last two years, he said. The official likened open-type correctional facilities to student dormitories, with one room accommodating two to three convicts. Around half of the overall population of such institutions have a record of previous convictions, he stressed, adding that freedom restriction sentences vary in term from six months to five years. Each convict serving a freedom restriction sentence should report to a duty officer while going to work in the morning and coming back in the evening. Inmates may leave the territory of an institution for meeting with relatives. Ninety-two to 94 percent of such convicts have jobs with either state-run or private enterprises, Mr. Shevchik noted, adding that convicts are usually sent to open-type institutions located near their place of residence. However, Natalya Khutorskaya of the Moscow-based Penal System Research Institute described the penalty as a kind of custodial sentence and expressed satisfaction with the fact that Russia does not apply such sentence.

Interior ministry considers possibility of house arrest application in Belarus

The Belarusian interior ministry considers the possibility of applying house arrest as a form of punishment, Kazimir Shevchik, deputy chief of the ministry's Penal Department, said on April 23. Mr. Shevchik told participants at a round-table conference in Minsk that the ministry intends to ask Belarusian State Informatics and Electronics University whether it could develop a system for surveying those sentenced to house arrest and how much it would cost. When the electronic surveillance system is developed, the interior ministry would test the new form of punishment in some area for a year or two before making a final decision on its application, Mr. Shevchik said. The roundtable had been organized by the Penal Department, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the OSCE Office in Minsk, the Moscow office of the Penal Reform International and the Belarusian office of the Central and East European Law Initiative of the American Bar Association (ABA/CEELI). The event is part of the program of cooperation between the Belarusian government and the OSCE/ODIHR in applying non-custodial penalties.