Belarus Headlines April 5 — Volume 1, Issue 6 April 17 April 18 Dear colleagues and friends, Inside this issue A few days ago our web-site was hacked by unknown persons that is why it was inaccessible for 2 days. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience. Chernobyl information evening in Brussels . 1 Office for a Democratic Belarus Belarusian-Latvian business Dear friends and colleagues, talks in Minsk yield tentative trade deals , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 2 The Office for a Democratic Belarus Talks about Russian stabiliza- and the Hanse-Office in Brussels tion loan continue, Belarusian would like to invite you to the Cher- finance ministry says . 2 nobyl information evening and docu- mentary film screening to take place Pipeline around Belarus pro- th on Friday, 27 of April, at 19.00. posed again . 2-3 Hanse-Office Belshina plans to set up net- work of trading houses - Joint Representation of the Free and abroad . 3 Hanseatic City of Hamburg and the State of Schleswig-Holstein to the EU India, Belarus sign six agree- - ments . 3 Avenue Palmerston 20 Oman signs two economic B-1000 Brussels. pacts with Belarus . 3 Even today, 21 years after the explo- Criminal case against Malady sion at the Chernobyl nuclear power Front leader goes to court plant, the problem of its consequences documentary films “Once Upon a . 4 is as acute, as ever. 485 villages and Time” (2006, 10 min) and “As Is towns were lost, 136 000 people were Their Wont” (2006, 20 min) forced to flee from the contaminated Milinkevich visiting StPeters- area, with 2 000 000 still living there. (director Galina Galina Adamovich) burg . 4 Belarus received 70% of all radioactive Second Congress of Pro- fallout. Nevertheless, the present Bel- Entrance is free, drinks and snacks arusian regime prefers not to talk democratic Forces to be about the problem and discourages provided. held in May . 4-5 any scientific research on Chernobyl consequences. R.S.V.P. not later than April 25: Lukashenko tells his future Programme of the evening: . 5 [email protected] or by telephone T: + 32 2 401 61 41 - brief discussion about the Cher- (42). Belarusian TV manager nobyl catastrophe and its present denies Milinkevich live de- political context in Belarus; bates . 5 We are looking forward to seeing - photo report from the Chernobyl march in Minsk on April 26, 2007 you! PACE President raises Belarus issue . 6 (slideshow); Adamovich) Milinkevich suggests opening European centres . 6 2 Belarus Headlines Economics Belarusian-Latvian Business Talks Talks about Russian Stabilization Loan in Minsk Yield Tentative Trade Continue, Belarusian Finance Ministry Says Photo: Mikalai Korbut, minister of finances Deals Talks about a stabilization loan that Wednesday's business matchmaking session involving the Belarusian government has Belarusian and Latvian companies yielded several tenta- requested Russia are continuing, tive agreements on trade deals. the press office of the finance min- istry told. The press office said that Held in Minsk, the event was attended by executives "sides concerned" held meeting with 63 Belarusian and 12 Latvian businesses. and exchanged letters. In particular, a Belarusian wholesaler agreed to buy It declined to comment further, fresh frozen fish from two Latvian suppliers. Belprod- saying that details of talks on the fud and Beltransinvest plan to sign contracts on the issuance of such big loans normally purchase of Latvian-made canned fish and medicines, were not disclosed. "Routine work while Alvo is expected to contract to supply furniture is being done now. We will inform components to the Latvian country. you when an agreement is signed," Girts Kronbergs, a representative of the Latvian Cham- it said. ber of Commerce and Industry, noted that Latvian On February 22, the Belarusian government asked Moscow for a businesses were increasingly interested in expanding to $1.5-billion stabilization loan, citing the need to plug holes in the the Belarusian market and vice versa. Two Latvian companies represented at the talks, Lauks budget caused by a hike in energy prices. and Duna, have been already selling their goods to Bel- The finance ministry's press office also refused to comment on a arusian customers, he said. Thursday report by the Russian Prime-Tass news agency that Russia had asked Belarus to look for more convincing grounds Joint Belarusian-Latvian projects are run by the Belaru- for obtaining a loan. The news agency quoted a source close to sian Steel Works and the Liepajas Metalurgs steel com- the Russian government as saying that Minsk cited the need to pany, the Minsk-based Milavitsa lingerie maker and survive higher energy prices and subsidize domestic refineries Lauma, and other companies. A joint enterprise has whose profitability had dropped. The news agency said that sub- operated in the Liepaja seaport since 2003. sidies to exporters contradicted rules of the World Trade Or- The Latvian executives are scheduled to hold talks at ganization that Russia was about to join. It said that the Belaru- the Belarusian State Material Resources Concern in sian finance ministry was expected to prepare more convincing Minsk on Thursday. grounds for securing the loan. 05/04/2007 13/04/2007 Source: BelaPAN Source: naviny.by Pipeline around Belarus Proposed Again The Ministry of Industry has already been in favour of the resolution. and Energy has again in- The new line will span Unecha-Velikie Luki-Primorsk. It would troduced a draft resolu- increase the capacity of the port at Primorsk to 150 million tins tion on a second line of per year and allow Russia fully to bypass Belarus and Poland with the Baltic Pipeline Sys- its exports to the EU. The Industry and Energy Ministry com- tem, with a capacity of 80 mented that implementing the project will “encourage the million tons per year, to growth of Russia's export potential and allow it to reduce tran- be built by Transneft. The sit risks,” but declined to mention specific details of the pro- project had been used by Russia as a means of posed line. pressuring Belarus, since On January 1, 2007, a Russian duty of $180 per ton on oil ex- it would allow Russia to transport oil without using the ported to Belarus went into effect. In response, Belarus imposed Friendship pipeline, which passes through Belarus and a $45 per ton transit fee on oil pumped through the Friendship Poland. The discussion of the resolution will take place line. Transneft proposed the first version of the resolution on a behind closed doors – a good indication that a decision new branch of the Baltic Pipeline System on January 3. Belarus withdrew the transit fee on January 10, after a telephone con- 3 Belarus Headlines Economics Pipeline around Belarus Pro- Belshina Plans to Set up Network of Trading Houses posed Again ... Abroad in 2007 versation between Russian president Belshina, a major Belarus tyre in Ust-Kamenogorsk and Almaty Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President manufacturer, plans to open a (Kazakhstan), Donetsk (Ukraine). More- Alexander Lukashenko. On January 12, network of its trading houses over, Belshina trading houses will appear the Russian duty was reduced to $53 outside Belarus. this year in Botswana, Guinea, Indonesia. per ton, and the resolution on a new At the moment Belshina is com- Belshina is one of the biggest tyre manufac- Baltic Pipeline branch was returned “for pleting the creation of its trade turers in Europe. It produces nearly 200 development” in February. organisations in Smolensk, Petro- standard sizes of tyres for passenger cars, Transneft vice president Sergey zavodsk, Nizhniy Novgorod, heavy-duty trucks, road construction ma- Grigoryev told that it would take a year Krasnodar (Russia) and in Vilnius chinery, buses, tractors and agricultural and a half to bring the new pipeline (Lithuania), the company told. equipment. online. He would not speculate on The new trading houses will al- In January-February 2007, the company when the government would make a low Belshina to freshen up and increased the output by 42.3% from the final decision on it. Industry experts enlarge its offering range in for- same priod last year. The sales soared by estimate that the new branch would eign markets and bring its prod- 45%. Belshina exports about 60% of its cost $2-2.5 billion. ucts closer to customers thus products to more than 40 locations world- 12/04/2007 boosting sales. In Q2, 2007 Bel- wide. shina plans to open trading Source: Kommersant houses in Tiumen, Irkutsk, Kursk 14/04/2007 (Russia), Source: BELTA India, Belarus Sign Six Oman Signs Two Economic Pacts with Agreements Belarus Industry. The Omani National Economic Minister The Belarus and Indian compa- announced that Oman and Belarus have signed two major agreements for avoiding nies that signed MoUs are: Be- lAZ and Dhansar Engineering double taxation and boosting cooperation Co. Pvt. Ltd.; BelAZ and G S between the two countries' chambers of Atwal & Co.; BelAZ and Subron commerce and industry, Khaleej Times Construction; BelAZ and Power reported. Tools & Appliances Co. Ltd; Bel- stankoinstruments and Power The minister indicated that the agreements, Tools & Appliances Co. Ltd; and which were signed on the sidelines of the Belarus Metallurgical Works visit of Belarus's President to Oman, will (BMZ) and Adair Dutt & Com- further reinforce trade and economic ties India-Belarus business cooperation re- between the two countries. He added that ceived a fresh impetus Monday with the pany (I) Pvt. Ltd the two countries have pledged to create signing of six B2B (Bilateral Business) an encouraging investment environment for agreements in various sectors such as BelAZ is a world leader in manu- investors. heavy mining equipment, machine tools facture of heavy mining equip- and steel sector. ment, while Belstankoinstru- The minister also noted that the Sultanate The agreements were signed here in ments and Belarus Metallurgical has signed 26 similar pacts with several the presence of India's Minister of State Works (BMZ) specialize in ma- countries worldwide, as part of the coun- for Industry, Dr.