Volozhin Region
Executive Committee

The International Festival of Modern Choreography (IFMC) has gained high prestige and recognition among artists and fans of contemporary dance around the world, Belarusian Culture Minister Anatoly Markevich said in his welcoming remarks to the participants, organizers and guests of the festival in Vitebsk on 22 November, BelTA has learned.

IFMC is one of the most significant events in the cultural calendar of Belarus. "For its long and fruitful life, the festival has gained high authority and recognition among artists and fans of modern dance all over the world. In 2023 we will see the highest competition at the Belarusian contest of contemporary choreography featuring 200 applicants," the minister said.

The number of applications indicates the growing interest in modern dance among young people and the great creative potential, Anatoly Markevich noted, adding that the national modern choreography has a great and interesting future.

He expressed special gratitude to the organizers, partners and sponsors of the IFMC for their contribution to the festival. The minister wished young choreographers and dancers of the large choreography festival creative inspiration and good luck, and bright and unforgettable impressions to the audience.

The 34th installment of the International Festival of modern Choreography will be running in Vitebsk till 26 November. Officially, it opened on 22 November with a presentation by the participants of the national competition and the Moscow Ballet project.

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The Time Capsule was laid in a memorial stele in Arzamas on 22 November to mark the start of the construction of a new school for 1,500 students, BelTA has learned.

Attending the ceremony was Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko and Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast Gleb Nikitin.

“A considerable part of our talks, which took place even before the Business Cooperation Council meeting, was devoted to this facility. This is a very significant project for Arzamas. Belarusian builders are famous for their responsible approach to fulfillment of obligations. Today we have received assurances from the responsible officials that the object will be commissioned on time. Therefore, I hope, we can even devote our next meeting to cutting the ribbon already. This project will be under special control in the Republic of Belarus,” Roman Golovchenko said.

The Belarusian head of government expressed hope that children's voices would be already heard there in a year: “We will make every effort to implement this.”

The Time Capsule message addressed to the residents of Arzamas focuses special attention on the cooperation between Belarus and the region. “The joint construction of this school is one of many examples of our Russian-Belarusian friendship. We, Russians and Belarusians, are united by many things. We are like-minded in our desire to make the world more beautiful, richer, and happier. We have inherited from our ancestors such enduring values as love for life, people, sense of justice, diligence, and family traditions. Keep them sacred!” the message reads.

It was stressed at the ceremony that Nizhny Novgorod Oblast and Belarus were united by close ties of friendship and cooperation. Arzamas has four Belarusian sister cities: Chausy, Volozhin, Slavgorod and Smorgon. There are special bridges of friendship between Arzamas and Belarusian schools.

Today is the third day of the working visit of Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko to the Russian Federation. On 22 November the government delegation is visiting Nizhny Novgorod. The Belarusian head of government attended a ceremony to roll out the first electric bus MiNiN and also took part in the 18th meeting of the Business Cooperation Council of the Republic of Belarus and Nizhny Novgorod Oblast of the Russian Federation.

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The China-Belarus association of universities will become a hallmark of humanitarian cooperation between our countries, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of China to Belarus Xie Xiaoyong said after the signing of the agreement on the establishment of the association, during the 1st Forum of Rectors of Higher Education Institutions of Belarus and China on 21 November, BelTA has learned.

“Chinese-Belarusian relations are at the highest level in the history of interstate relations today. Last September, the leaders of our countries met in Samarkand, where they made a decision to elevate China-Belarus relations to an all-weather, comprehensive strategic partnership, which gave a new impetus to the development of our relations in all the areas. We can say that our bilateral relations have made a historic leap forward. Today's agreement marks a landmark event in the history of cooperation in education between China and Belarus. More than 80 higher education institutions of the two countries have joined this association. The main forces of cooperation in education will be concentrated here. We have every reason to turn the association into another charming hallmark of China-Belarus humanitarian cooperation in such areas as inter-university cooperation, joint training of specialists, including exchange of teachers, students, and also joint scientific work, and so on,” Xie Xiaoyong said.

The ambassador is confident that the establishment of the association will further promote Chinese-Belarusian cooperation not only in education, but also mutually beneficial cooperation in all the areas. “Such an association is of great importance for training even more Chinese and Belarusian scholars who know well the languages of our two countries, who understand Chinese and Belarusian cultures, who are ready to stay committed to Chinese-Belarusian cooperation. In short, the creation of such a large-scale association of universities opens up many opportunities for further development of our cooperation in education,” he added.

More than 80 universities of Belarus and China have joined the association. The plenary session was attended by rectors of universities of both countries. The forum will continue with breakout sessions, university visits and bilateral meetings.

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Since the start of the year 2023, some 384,343 residents of the neighboring EU states of Lithuania, Latvia and Poland have taken advantage of the visa waiver to come to Belarus, BelTA learned from the State Border Committee of Belarus.

Some 769,329 people from the neighboring EU countries have visited Belarus since the launch of the visa-waiver program, including 479,868 citizens of Lithuania, 53,895 non-citizens and 176,635 citizens of Latvia, and 58,931 Polish citizens.

Since the start of this year, 384,343 tourists from the neighboring EU states have arrived in Belarus visa-free. This included 231,605 citizens of Lithuania, 88,501 citizens and 27,016 non-citizens of Latvia, and 37,221 Polish citizens.

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Belarus plans to actively promote Belarusian equipment and services to Zimbabwe, Igor Marshalov, newly-appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Belarus to Zimbabwe, told BelTA.

“The head of state pays great attention to political, trade and economic cooperation with Zimbabwe,” he said. “Today, specific tasks have been set to increase trade with this country.”

The diplomat went on saying: “There are many existing contracts. There are also contracts for the next year. There is a task for Belarus to join the country's mechanization programs. Already this year the country has received a good harvest, including thanks to the Belarusian equipment. There are also tasks to service this equipment and train personnel.”

“We will be working on it,” Igor Marshalov emphasized.

“The subsoil of African countries is very rich, and many countries around the world are eager to trade with Africa. Belarus has certain competencies, which we will be interested in implementing in Zimbabwe,” he added.

Previously, Igor Marshalov served as Deputy Chairman of the State Control Committee - Director of the Financial Investigations Department.

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Belarus and Kazakhstan intend to intensify cooperation in science and technology. This topic was discussed during a video conference meeting of the Belarus-Kazakhstan commission on sci-tech cooperation, BelTA learned from the press service of the State Committee on Science and Technology.

The commission is co-chaired by First Deputy Chairman of the State Committee on Science and Technology of Belarus Denis Korzhitsky and by Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of Kazakhstan Darkhan Akhmed-Zaki. Taking part in the meeting was also Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Belarus to Kazakhstan Pavel Utyupin.

The parties discussed the state and prospects for science, technology and innovation in Belarus and Kazakhstan, identified priority areas of cooperation, and considered the possibility of holding a competition for joint sci-tech projects.

The parties agreed upon the draft sci-tech cooperation program for 2024-2025.

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Minsk has hosted ministerial consultations to discuss cooperation between the CIS member states and the OSCE, as well as interaction with the European Union, NATO and other European organizations, BelTA learned from the press service of the CIS Executive Committee.

Taking part in the event were representatives of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and the CIS Executive Committee.

During the consultations, representatives of foreign ministries exchanged views on the state of affairs in the OSCE, discussed the project and field activities of this organization in the CIS states and emphasized the need to push for the de-escalation of the military-political situation in the Euro-Atlantic.

The participants of the meeting agreed to coordinate positions prior to and during the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting that will be held in Skopje on 30 November-1 December. They underscored the importance of ensuring unhindered access of all delegations to the upcoming event.

They also discussed the current policy of the European Union in the CIS space and the relations between the Commonwealth countries and NATO.

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Chairman of the Standing Committee on International Affairs and National Security of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus Sergei Rachkov took part in a webinar of the Inter-Parliamentary Union to discuss parliamentary solidarity for refugee inclusion in education on 13 November, BelTA learned from the press service of the upper house of parliament.

Issues related to training of refugees are regulated by education laws of the Republic of Belarus, noted Sergei Rachkov during the event. “Thus, in accordance with Paragraph 5 of Article 3 of the Education Code of the Republic of Belarus, foreign citizens and stateless persons who have been granted refugee status or asylum in our country have the same education rights as citizens of the Republic of Belarus,” the senator emphasized. “Minors who apply for refugee status, additional protection or asylum in the Republic of Belarus, have the right to pre-school, general secondary education and vocational training on an equal basis with minor citizens of Belarus,” Sergei Rachkov remarked.

As to citizens of Ukraine, the presidential decree allows legal representatives of minors not to submit the required documents to educational institutions, if they cannot obtain such documents for objective reasons, the parliamentarian added. “During the migration crisis on the western border of Belarus last year, Belarus arranged training for refugee children,” Sergei Rachkov informed.

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Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Belarus to Egypt Sergei Terentyev met with Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research of Egypt Mohamed Ayman Ashour on 12 November, BelTA learned from the press service of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The parties discussed Belarusian-Egyptian cooperation in science and education, in particular, the issues of inter-university cooperation and recognition of Belarusian higher education diplomas in Egypt.

The minister informed about the interest in intensifying the exchange of experience in training and education in agriculture, high technologies, as well as in the disciplines of physics and mathematics.

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On 10 November, the Third Committee of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly adopted by consensus the traditional Belarusian resolution " Improving the coordination of efforts against trafficking in persons”, BelTA learned from the press service of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The resolution, which has been adopted by the UN General Assembly since 2006, is a practical contribution to the development of the initiative put forward by Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko at the UN summit in 2005 to build a global partnership to combat trafficking in human beings.

The document has a significant number of co-sponsors (more than 40 states) representing all regions of the world, which testifies to the relevance of the Belarusian initiative and the high level of confidence given to Belarus in consolidating international efforts to combat trafficking in human beings.

The resolution ensures that the UN continues to give consistent priority attention to the issue of combating trafficking in human beings and is a one-of-a-kind umbrella, universal document on this topic.

The document brings together all the individual thematic initiatives in the field of combating trafficking in human beings promoted by states in the UN. In practice, the resolution demonstrates the ability of the international community to overcome the fragmentation that previously existed in the UN and serves as an additional platform for further strengthening international partnership on such an important issue.

The resolution reflects the integral contribution of universal and regional organizations and mechanisms to combat trafficking in persons, including within the framework of the Inter-Agency Coordination Group against Trafficking in Persons, a number of UN entities (the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, the Office on Drugs and Crime), the OSCE and others.

The resolution focuses on a number of recent global challenges that the international community continues to face in the fight against human trafficking. In particular, attention is drawn to trends in the use of information and communication technologies for trafficking in persons. There has been an increase in the number of migrants among victims of human trafficking. It also calls on the international community to step up measures to assist victims of trafficking.

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