Volozhin Region
Executive Committee

Belarus needs changes but not through civil strife or revolutions, Belarus' Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei said in his address to the members of the Belarusian diplomatic service, BelTA has learned.

“Changes are needed, no one denies it. But not at the cost of civil confrontation or revolutions as in this case the number of victims and negative consequences will be many times bigger. We have already been thrown back many years in our development due to the events of the recent days,” said Vladimir Makei.

He stressed that this is not what the Belarusians and the country deserve. “The evolutionary process, even if it is slow, is always more effective in the long term. We deserve better, where everyone is a personality, a countryman, a partner and a whole world for each other, not ‘red' or ‘white',” the minister said.

Vladimir Makei added that Belarus is now going through a painful stage of development of its independence, a civil society. “Please, always analyze the situation. It is difficult to do it with such an information flow, but you can do it,” the minister said addressing the colleagues. “At this crucial moment for our country, it is more important than ever to defend foreign policy interests of Belarus. They remain intact. Put aside your emotions and ask yourself: can I still be of use to the country in my area of work? I know my answer, because I do not want to lose my country. If your answer is yes, then cast aside your doubts and let us continue doing our job responsibly! Perhaps it was this point in history that fate was preparing you for!”

Athletes from Minsk Oblast, gaining 91 points, were ahead of rivals from Minsk (80) and Grodno Oblast (75) in the team competition of the Belarusian youth championship in Greco-Roman wrestling, which ended in the capital, Belta reports.

In the individual championship, four "classics" from the Minsk region at once noted victories: Alexander Negoda (63 kg, Borisov), Alexander Leonchik (67 kg, Minsk region), Andrey Samets (72 kg, Berezino) and Pavel Glinchuk (97 kg, Molodechno)...

The country's youth wrestling championship ended earlier. Tatyana Pavlova from Minsk region became the champion in the weight category of 62 kg.

Based on the results of the past championship, a team will be formed to participate in the Games of the CIS countries in Kazan. This multisport competition for athletes under 23 was supposed to take place in August, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, it was postponed to October.

A unified register of licenses has been launched in Belarus, BelTA learned from the official website of the Belarusian Communications and Informatization Ministry.

The unified register of licenses is an information system that contains data about issued licenses, updates and amendments to them, news about suspension, renewal, expiry, and revocation of licenses as well as other data that should be provided under the legislation. The register already contains over 50,600 licenses.

The register was created in line with Decree No.326 of 2 September 2019 on improving licensing. It is meant to do away with excessive regulations, improve the licensing procedures, and ease the terms and conditions for license applicants and holders. The establishment and operation of the unified register of licenses was approved by the Council of Ministers' resolution.

The register is available at license.gov.by and the central electronic services portal. The unified register of licenses provides information for free.

Any changes should be carried out within the legal framework, otherwise the country will face serious consequences, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said at a meeting of the Security Council with the participation of regional leaders by a video link, BelTA learned.

“Once again, I would like to reiterate: changes that some want should be within the law. Changes must be spelled out in the Constitution. This work continues. It will be stepped up. How fast the work on the Constitution goes will depend on people's support. With the Constitution in place, we will be able to have discussions about the re-election of the bodies of authorities,” the Belarusian leader said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasized that there is the legal and regulatory framework in the country, the current Constitution. “We should faithfully adhere to it. I have no other means to keep the country within the legal framework, in compliance with this Constitution. Otherwise, we will be governed by others,” the president said.

In January-July 2020, agricultural farms of all kinds (state-run agricultural enterprises, private farmers, subsidiary farms) produced Br9.9 billion worth of goods, which was 2.8% up year-on-year in comparable prices, BelTA learned from the National Statistics Committee.

In January-July 2020, agricultural enterprises made Br9.5 billion worth of products, which was up by 3.3% over the same period of 2019 in comparable prices.

The output of cattle and poultry (in terms of live weight) at farms of all kinds totaled 1,086,000 tonnes (up 4.9%), including 1,047,000 (up 5.4%) in state-run agricultural enterprises. Milk production reached 4,562,000 tonnes (up 5.5%), including 4,417,000 million tonnes (up 6.1%) in state-run agricultural enterprises.

As of 1 August 2020, the number of cattle in agricultural enterprises stood at 4.2 million head (99.5% as against the same period of 2019), including 1.4 million cows (up 0.2%). The number of pigs amounted to 2.6 million head, up 2.3% from 1 August 2019.

Nearly 1,000 forest fires have happened in Belarus since the beginning of the year, BelTA learned from Aleksei Boiko, a consultant with the Forest Management Office of the Belarusian Forestry Ministry.

As of 17 August there had been 986 forest fires with their total area as large as 6.575 million hectares. Most of the fires happened in Brest Oblast (347 fires on an area of 2.3 million hectares) and Gomel Oblast (263 fires on an area of 3.5 million hectares).

This year's situation with forest fires in Belarus has been determined by unusual weather in spring. Sunny weather, gusty winds, the willingness of Belarusians to set old dry grass on fire as a spring cleanup measure, failures to observe fire safety requirements resulted in forestry enterprises having to deal with forest fires as early as mid-March. The first fire in a forest run by the Forestry Ministry was registered on 15 March. It is worth noting that spring fires, fires in April to be exact, accounted for 90% of the entire area of forest fires.

The situation has been stabilized since then. To prevent forest fires, preserve Belarusian forests, and take care of people's safety when they visit forests, municipal authorities promptly introduce restrictions and prohibitions on visiting forests after receiving fire hazard warnings from the national weather service.

This year Forestry Ministry enterprises have built a total of 74,000km of dozer lines, 49.5km of new firebreaks, and have repaired over 1,500km of fire trails. Over 4,000 inspections have been arranged, with 565 people now facing administrative charges.

Over 660 lookout towers are used to detect forest fires early. Of them 623 towers are equipped with video surveillance systems. The introduction of an automated remote system for detecting forest fires early continues.

Belarus' Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei had a phone conversation with Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs Ann Linde on 18 August, BelTA learned from the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“The parties exchanged views on the development of the post-election situation in and around Belarus and discussed the prospects for Belarus' cooperation with the European Union and the OSCE,” the press service said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs added that Vladimir Makei is scheduled to have a number of telephone calls with his counterparts. For example, in a phone call with Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto the parties exchanged views on the current situation after the presidential election in Belarus and discussed the prospects for further cooperation.

Belarus still has to harvest 12.1% of land under grain and leguminous crops (except for maize, buckwheat and millet), BelTA learned from the Agriculture and Food Ministry.

As of 18 August, grain and leguminous crops were harvested on the area of 1.93 million hectares, or 87.9% of the plan. Brest Oblast has taken the lead fulfilling 98.5% of the harvesting plan (332,400 hectares). Grodno Oblast cropped 97.1% (309,400 hectares), Gomel Oblast harvested 95% of the area (323,200 hectares), Minsk Oblast harvested 94.1% (456,500 hectares), Mogilev Oblast gathered 75.9% (255,500 hectares), Vitebsk Oblast harvested 67.2% (253,800 hectares).

All in all, 7.236 million tonnes of grain was threshed across the country with the average yield at 37.5 centners per hectare (in 2019, the yield as of the same date was 31.7 centners per hectare). Minsk Oblast harvested more than 1.8 million tonnes of grain, Grodno Oblast more than 1.4 million tonnes and Brest Oblast over 1.3 million tonnes.

Flax was harvested on the area of 43,100 hectares (88.6% of the area under this crop).

Some 752,100 tonnes of hay (74.5% of the plan), 12.618 million tonnes of haylage (100.1%) and 642,200 tonnes of silage (3.35%) were stocked. In total, there are plans to procure 9.3 million tonnes of fodder units of grass feed, most of them in Minsk Oblast and Brest Oblast. By this time, 43.5% of the plan has been fulfilled.

In January-June 2020, the real disposable money income of Belarusians came at 105.4% as against the same period of 2019, BelTA learned from representatives of the National Statistics Committee of Belarus.

Salaries accounted for 64.38% of the total money income, revenues from doing business and other gainful activities – 7.3%, transfers to the population (pensions, welfare benefits, scholarships, and other kinds) – 23.5%, property income and other kinds of revenue – 4.9%.

The real disposable money income of individuals is calculated as monetary income minus taxes, duties, and fees adjusted bearing in mind the index of consumer prices for goods and services.

Power in the country should be redistributed via the constitutional process instead of street protests.

Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko made the statement while talking to employees of Minsk Wheel Tractor Plant (MZKT for short) on 17 August, BelTA has learned.

Aleksandr Lukashenko reminded that work is in progress on ways to amend the country's Constitution in order to redistribute the authority. “We cannot give away this Constitution to god knows who. Because disasters will follow,” he stressed.

Aleksandr Lukashenko assured he is ready to share presidential authority. “A new Constitution is necessary. Two variants have been suggested to me. I've rejected them because they differ little from the current one. Work is in progress on the third variant. Come, sit down, and let's work on the Constitution. We will arrange a referendum, pass the Constitution, and I will hand over my authority in accordance with the Constitution. But not under pressure and not via street protests,” the head of state stated.

“No, I am not a saint. You know my hardline policies. You know the country wouldn't exist without this hard line. You know precisely that I will not offend your kids and will not surrender the country to anyone. It is the most important thing,” Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed.

“I will not live forever. But if you ruin the first president, you are going to ruin it like it was done in neighboring countries, in all the other ones. Belarusians shouldn't do it,” the head of state said.