Belarus Interested In Stepping Up Economic Cooperation With Oman
Serbian Economic Exhibition Takes Place In Belarus
Belarus is interested in enhancing trade and economic cooperation with Oman, said President of Belarus Alexan der Lukashenko as he met with Chairman of the State Coun cil of Oman Yahya bin Mahfoudh al Manthri on May 26.
The national economic exhibition of Serbia that is held in Minsk on May 26 28 will intensify trade and economic relations between Belarus and Serbia, Trade Minister of Belarus Valentin Chekanov said on May 26, BelTA informs.
Rediscovering Unknown Smoliak Belarusian artist Andrey Smoliak seems always to have some new and unusual projects up his sleeve to surprise ama teurs of contemporary arts. It was not a long time ago that Smoliak enjoyed the triumph of his exhibition at the National Arts Museum to celebrate the artist’s 50th anniversary.
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PACE COMMISSION RECOMMENDS TO RESTORE BELARUS’ SPECIAL GUEST STATUS Combined Report
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he Political Affairs Committee of the Council of Europe Parliamentary As sembly (PACE) on May 26 voted to restore Special Guest status in PACE for a delega tion from Belarus, which was suspended in 1997, BelaPAN said. The committee unanimously adopted a report by Andrea Rigoni of Italy on the situation in Belarus. Andrea Rigoni, who is PACE’s rappor teur on Belarus, proposed that the status be restored provided a mechanism was found for the Belarusian delegation to include representatives of the “extra par liamentary opposition.” Goran Lindblad, chairman of the com mittee who visited Belarus in February, said following that visit that PACE “wants to bring Belarus closer to Council of Europe stand ards.” “Isolation has been tried and it has not worked,” he said. “Andrea Rigoni’s pro posal would allow the beginning of a struc tured dialogue, partly as a response to some positive developments in the country.” How ever, he pointed out that any restoration of Special Guest status – if it was decided by the Assembly – should be temporary, and renewal would depend on Belarus making further progress towards democratization. The issue of Special Guest status for Belarus is expected to be discussed by PACE at its June session. Anatoly Glaz, deputy chairman of the permanent commission for human rights, national relations and mass media of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus, said that admission to PACE and the Council of Europe was not a key priority for Belarus. “But partici pation in the institutions will help us bring home our stance on international mat
ters to representatives of European states and take part in the formation of various European institutions,” he said. “Besides, it will give an additional boost to the de velopment of the export potential and investment inflows.” Anatoly Glaz took part in a session of the PACE European Democrats Group. Ses sion “Restoration of Belarus’ Special Guest Status: What have been already done and what we have to do more?” was held in the Czech Parliament. However, Anatoly Glaz stressed that the Belarusian authorities would not tolerate any “dictate” on the part of Europe. “If Europe’s demands appear to concern the country’s sovereignty and security, they will be unacceptable,” he said. “For in stance, the demand to hold demonstra tions in any place is unacceptable. As for the death penalty, I think that we are not ready to abolish death penalty so far. At the same time, we may consider the issue concerning the moratorium imposing,” the deputy said. “But we can take into account European institutions’ proposals if they are drawn up in accordance with the Belarusian people’s interests.” PACE started to receive unbiased infor mation about Belarus which influenced its decision to recommend the restora tion of Belarus’ special guest status, Anatoly Glaz told reporters on May 26. The positive decision has mainly been attributed to the fact that PACE representa tives have visited Belarus multiple times and could see with their own eyes what was going on in the country, while some ten years ago the opposition was virtually their only source of information about the country, the deputy said. According to the PACE charter, a special guest status is a transitional status. Taking
Andrea Rigoni
Photo ByMedia.net
into consideration that PACE unanimously voted for the restoration of this status for Belarus, Anatoly Glaz expressed confidence that Belarus will soon be admitted to this organization. According to him, the deci
sion of the PACE political commission con firms the efficiency and openness of Belarusian policy towards Europe. Vintsuk Vyachorka, deputy head of the Belarusian Popular Front, commented on
the recommendations of the political committee of PACE on returning a status of special guest to Belarus. “When visiting Belarus this winter, Andrea Rigoni gave a rather adequate estimation of the situation in Belarus during the so called probation period. He expressed a proposal of the PACE political affairs committee – to invite for negotiations a mixed group, con sisting of representatives of the authorities and the democratic forces. We supported the proposal as we believe these negotia tions are necessary,” Vintsuk Vyachorka told in an interview to Radio Svaboda. He reminded that the democratic forces have a document setting up principles of the road map for returning Belarus to the Council of Europe. “The document offers basic conditions and terms. A country that doesn’t meet crite ria of membership in the Council of Europe can’t receive any status in the Council of Europe. There must be some progress to wards these criteria and adhering to them. We don’t see this. I think it is a violation of the principles of the Council f Europe in a certain sense,” the politician emphasized. Belarus’ national legislature held Spe cial Guest status in PACE between 1992 and 1997. The status was suspended in 1997 following a November 1996 national re ferendum condemned by foreign obser vers as undemocratic. Shortly after that, Belarus’s application to join the Council of Europe was frozen, and it remains the only European nation that is not a mem ber of the organization. Special Guest status was created by PACE in the 1990s to help countries meet the conditions to become full members of the Council of Europe. It enables parliamen tarians to take part in the Assembly’s acti vities, but without the right to vote.
ITALIAN AMBASSADOR: SILVIO BERLUSCONI IS READY TO VISIT BELARUS BelTA
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talian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is ready to visit Belarus, Ambassador of Italy to Belarus Giulio Prigioni told a press conference in Minsk on May 22. The diplomatic missions of the two countries are discussing this issue. Yet, the Ambassa dor did not specify the date of the visit.
According to him, the date of the visit of the Italian Premier to Belarus will be an nounced in September. “The schedules of the presidents and prime ministers are very busy. At present, it is very difficult to say anything definite. It is possible that in September we will discuss it in greater detail. As for my posi tion as the Ambassador, I am doing my best for this visit to take place,” Giulio Prigioni noted. According to the diplomat, the Italian Embassy jointly with Belarusian organi zations and universities are discussing a possibility to hold exhibitions, shows and conferences in September to mark the beginning of the Renaissance and the impact of the Italian Renaissance on Belarus. “I hope that in this connection, a visit of Silvio Berlusconi may become possible. All these events will become an important stage in the history of our rela tions,” the Ambassador added.
Italy will also continue to provide help to Belarusian children, Giulio Prigioni un derlined. The diplomat noted that Belarus and Italy have been actively developing the humanitarian cooperation for many years. First and foremost, it concerns the recuperation of the Belarusian children from the regions affected by the Chernobyl accident. In recent years Italy has received around 300,000 children from Belarus. «Italy has provided the greatest help and support to the children who suffered from the Chernobyl accident. I believe that Italy can do much in this area,” Giulio Prigioni. Annually, the Italian Embassy in Belarus issues around 45,000 visas “including 35,000 visas to the children who go to Italy under recuperation programs. Some 10,000 visas are issued to tourists and businessmen. We do our best to increase this number. I will try to attract greater attention of the Ita lians to investment opportunities in Bela rus,” the Ambassador said.
Silvio Berlusconi