Belarus Headlines

Belarus Headlines April 20 — Belarus Headlines May 2 May 2 Chernobyl Information Evening in Brussels Inside this issue On April 27, the Office for a De- The discussion that took place af- mocratic Belarus in Brussels, in ter the movies’ screening was deal- Chernobyl information eve- cooperation with Hanse-Office ing with various aspects of the ning in Brussels . .1 (Germany), organized an infor- Chernobyl problem and the cur- mation evening dedicated to the rent situation in Belarus in general. 29% of industrial enterprises 21st anniversary of the Chernobyl Special attention was paid to how operated at loss, , , , , , , , , 2 authoritarian and totalitarian re- gimes deal with the situations like Belarus to lose most pre- the given one. cious . .. 2 Guests of the evening had a chance Contaminated farmland is to see some pictures from the used in agriculture . 3 Chernobyl area (Gomel region contaminated areas in Belarus) Belarus interested in sin- kindly provided by a freelance pho- gle market. 3 tographer and a journalist Jacky disaster. Organizers of the event pre- Negotiations with Azer- sented a report on the conse- baijan . 3 quences of the nuclear catastro- phe and the current policy of the Belarusian government towards Criminal action against the liquidators and the popula- one more young activist 4 tion of the contaminated areas. You can find a full version of the Milinkevich visits polluted area . 4 report on our web-site: www.democraticbelarus.eu (our Delorme. Some of his works can Reporters without bor- current activities). also be found on our web-site. ders statement . 5 The evening attendees also had US warns about sanc- The discussion and the exhibit tions. .5 presentation were followed by a slide-show on the Chernobyl March in Minsk on April 26, 2007, New foreign policy . 5 which is a yearly opposition rally. Visit to China . 5 Chernobyl rally . 6 27.04.2007 chance to see two documentary Regional conferences. 6 films on Belarus—“Once Upon a Time” (2006, 10 min) and “As Is Their Wont” (2006, 20 min) Commission o. in Minsk . 7 Office for a Democratic Belarus (director Galina Adamovich). EU won’t trade sanctions 8 PDF created with FinePrint pdfFactory Pro trial version http://www.fineprint.com 2 Belarus Headlines Economics More than 29 % of Industrial Enterprises Operated at Loss in First Two Months, Official Statistics Say The share of unprofitable industrial enterprises in Bela- mical industry, and 25 rus shrank by 2.9 percentage points year-on-year in percent in the iron and January and February 2007 to 29.3 percent of the total steel industry. number, according to the Ministry of Statistics and The industrial sector's Analysis. profitability rate was 11.8 As many as 629 enterprises operated at a loss in the percent compared with first two months and their losses reportedly totalled 15.7 percent in January 125.1 billion rubels. and February 2006, Food industry enterprises showed the poorest per- whereas the profitability formance. Their net losses amounted to 27.6 billion of sales was 8.8 percent rubels, the ministry said. Next came fuel industry com- compared with 12.2 per- panies with net losses of 26.7 billion rubels, machine- cent in the first two months of 2006. Тhe highest profitability building and metal working enterprises with total net rates were reported in oil production (52 percent), the petro- losses of 23.1 billion rubels, light industry enterprises chemical industry (34.4 percent), the chemical industry (23.7 with 19.3 billion rubels and forestry, woodworking and percent), the medical equipment industry (18.5 percent) and the paper industry enterprises with 13.4 billion rubels. printing industry (14.5 percent). The share of enterprises operating at a loss accounted The microbiological and fishing industries ended February with a for 52.8 percent in the fuel industry, 40.3 percent in negative profitability of 8.8 and 4.5 percent, respectively. the construction materials industry, 35 percent in the light industry, 29.3 percent in the forestry, woodworking and paper industries, 26.7 percent in the metal 20/04/2007 working and machine-building chemical and petroche- Source: BelaPAN Gazprom BOD will deliberate on “having an interest in Beltrans- Belarus to Lose Most Precious gaz” at April 25 meeting, the news service of Russia’s gas monopoly announced past Friday. The decision to set up a venture based on Beltransgaz, where Gazprom will buy out 50 percent plus a stock, was one of the core provisions of agreement on gas sales to Belarus in 2007. Gazprom agreed to the price of $100 per a thousand cu meters instead of the initially requested $200 per a thousand cu meters once Belarus undertook to set up a venture based on Beltrans- gaz assets prior to June 1, 2007. But the parties have failed so far to come to terms about the deal provisions. Gazprom yielded to the H1 price for Belarus in amount of $55 per a thousand cu meters instead of $100 per a thousand cu meters, i.e. it will derive just $1.155 billion from delivering 21 billion cu meters to the neighbor in 2007. The re- mainder of $0.945 billion will be settled via the loan granted by Russia is ready to lend up to $1.5 billion to Belarus Russia’s Finance Ministry to Belarus. but claims as security the stocks of its state-run gas Belarus, however, is dragging out the venture’s creation, blaming transport enterprise, Beltransgaz, in an attempt to the delay on official circumlocution and the lack of time to agree speed up creation of Gazprom-Beltransgaz venture. on the deal by Alexander Lukashenko. But Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko will hardly yield to this requirement – the emergence of such venture will bring the country’s main gas pipe- 23/04/2007 lines under control of Russia’s gas monopoly. Source: Kommersant PDF created with FinePrint pdfFactory Pro trial version http://www.fineprint.com 3 Belarus Headlines Economics Contaminated Farmland Used by over 600 Agricultural Enterprises in Belarus Farmland contaminated by the nu- Chernobyl-hit farmland, he said. clear fallout from the Chernobyl ac- Milk with excessive cesium levels is cident is used by more than 600 agri- produced by some households, not cultural enterprises in Belarus, Mi- farms, and does not end up in stores kalay Tsybulka, deputy head of the but is turned into radiation-free food- emergency management ministry's stuffs at dairy plants, Mr. Tsybulka Chernobyl relief department, told stressed. reporters in Minsk on April 24. The official acknowledged that farms in According to the official, crops are the worst-hit Brahin, Khoyniki and grown and farm animals graze on a Narowlya districts had problem grow- one-million-hectare area contami- ing grain with low strontium levels. To Twenty-one percent of Belarus' terri- nated by cesium-137. An area of solve the problem, the government has 200,000 hectares that was contami- tory is contaminated by the Chernobyl ordered the construction of a distillery fallout at present. nated by strontium-90 also is used as in the Brahin district. All grain grown in farmland. Farms apply extra amounts the area will be used for alcohol pro- 24/04/2007 of phosphorous and potash fertilizers duction, he stressed. Source: BelaPAN to grow cleaner produce on the Belarus Interested in Formation of a Single Energy Alexander Lukashenko to Hold Ne- gotiations with President of Azer- Market of Europe baijan Today Belarus speaks in favour of formation and Leonid Shenets articulated the Belarusian President Alexander Luka- of the single energy market of Europe Belarusian stance on the issues on shenko will conduct negotiations with which would allow for interests of improvement of transport and President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to- producing, consuming and transiting energy policy within the zone of day. countries. Such a standpoint was the UN Economic Commission for The Presidents are expected to discuss voiced by the Belarusian delegation in Europe. prospects of the bilateral cooperation in Geneva at the jubilee session of the During the session the Belarusian various spheres, as well as opportunities UN Economic Commission for delegation conducted bilateral Europe, BelTA learnt in the perma- to boost the bilateral trade. meetings with UN Deputy Secre- Intergovernmental and interdepartmental nent mission of Belarus to the United tary General – Executive Secretary Nations and other international or- agreements will be signed as well in Baku, of the UN Economic Commission including an agreement on labour activi- ganizations in Geneva. Founded in for Europe Marek Belka, Executive 1947, the UN Economic Commission ties and social security of people tempo- Director of the International En- rary working in the two countries, agree- for Europe marks its 60th anniversary ergy Agency Claude Mandil, Secre- this year. ments on cooperation in the areas of tary General of the Energy Charter quarantine and plant protection, veteri- The Belarusian delegation includes Secretariat Andre Mernier, repre- nary, state property management and Minister of Transport and Communi- sentatives of foreign countries. The privatization, standardization, metrology; cations Vladimir Sosnovskiy, Deputy negotiations focused on joint pro- BelTA learnt in the presidential press Energy Minister Leonid Shenets, rep- jects and measures to boost coop- service. resentatives of the permanent mission eration. to the UN. The trade turnover with Azerbaijan in 2006 grew by 24% as against 2005 to The Belarusian side drew attention to $37.2 million, with the Belarusian exports the special interest of Belarus in a and imports up 22.9% and 39.4% respec- multilateral dialogue on diversification tively. The foreign trade surplus was at of suppliers and types of energy and 28/04/2007 to issues on energy and transport the level of $31.7 million.

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