Volozhin Region
Executive Committee

The Postal Development Report 2022 prepared by the Universal Postal Union (UPU) placed Belarus on the 13th position out of 172 countries with a total score of 75.10. This is one position up compared to the previous year, when Belarus scored 67.4 points and placed 14th among 168 countries, BelTA learned from the press service of the Ministry of Communications and Informatization of Belarus.

The 2021 Integrated Index for Postal Development (2IPD) provides a comprehensive view on current global postal development. The 2IPD scoring system is built around four key dimensions of postal development: postal reliability, reach, relevance and resilience (4R). A score of 100 is assigned to the most successful postal business model, and a score of 0 to the most unsuccessful ones. Belarus received a score of 100 for resilience.

The leaders per 4R component score are: reliability - Singapore, reach - the United States of America, relevance - Austria, resilience: Belarus.

Postal resilience is defined as the ability of the postal operator to respond to unfavorable external economic, technological, societal and environmental shocks, and by so-doing, benefit the country's development as a whole. There is strong evidence of the overall economic resilience benefits of protecting and providing opportunities to the most vulnerable parts of society through powerful postal inclusion channels,” the press service informed.

Written by: belta.by

Belarus' world number 37 advanced to the Round of 16 at the Guadalajara Open Akron after world number 8 Paula Badosa of Spain was forced to retire, BelTA has learned.

After Azarenka closed out the set with an ace at 6-2, Badosa retired due to illness.

The Belarusian defeated Russia's world number 130 Elina Avanesyan, 6-4, 6-2, in the opener. Azarenka will face world number 15 Madison Keys of the United States next.

World number 4 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus lost to Russia's world number 22 Lyudmila Samsonova, 4-6, 6-2, 2-6, in the round of Last 32.

Belarus' world number 32 Aliaksandra Sasnovich lost to Ukraine's world number 58 Marta Kostyuk, 1-6, 3-6, in the opening round.

In the doubles round of Last 32 Aliaksandra Sasnovich and Lin Zhu of China defeated Sophie Chang of the United States and Indonesia's Aldila Sutjiadi, 7-5, 6-2. Belarus' Lidziya Marozava and Kaitlyn Christian of the United States lost to Poland's Alicja Rosolska and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand, 2-6, 6-3, 3-10.

The tournaments in Guadalajara will be over on 23 October.

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The National Academy of Sciences of Belarus is no longer funded only by the state budget. R&D products of Belarusian scientists allow earning money among other things. Chairman of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus Vladimir Gusakov made the statement as he met with Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko, BelTA has learned.

The operation of the academy has been adjusted recently in compliance with instructions of the head of state. It is rigidly organized and geared towards earning financial resources on its own, Vladimir Gusakov told Aleksandr Lukashenko.

The head of the academy stressed: “It is no longer a purely state-funded organization the way it was in the past when everyone was sitting around and waiting for budget appropriations. I no longer seek budget appropriations. For a number of years everyone has known that even if money is in short supply, we encourage people to earn money. And it is truly so.”

In his words, the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus has been able to hit assigned targets for the last few years. “We've had no reduction or disruption. I am talking about volumes of production, sales, implementation of all programs, fixed-capital investments such as the acquisition of devices and equipment. I am also talking about salaries and all the indicators specified by business plans,” Vladimir Gusakov clarified.

For instance, in 2021 the share of innovative products in Belarus rose up to nearly 23% while the volume of science-intensive and high-tech export exceeded 36%. The average monthly salary in Belarusian science was close to Br2,000, 14% up from 2020. In 2021 as many as 226 stock keeping units of import-substituting products worth over $485 million were made using R&D advances of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, including over $70 million made by academic organizations.

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More than 100 films will be screened during the eight days of the 28th edition of the Minsk International Film Festival Listapad in 2022, BelTA learned from the press center of the film festival.

A total of 1,360 entries were submitted to the festival. Over 80 films have already been shortlisted to take part in four programs of the festival (Feature Films Competition, Documentary Films Competition, Children and Youth Films Competition Listapadzik and Animation Films Competition). Along with the out-of-competition program and the CIS Golden Collection that will also be shown during the festival, the eight-day festival program will include about 100 entries.

According to the rules of the festival, all films taking part in the competition must not be screened in Belarus before. Preference is given to films that were critically acclaimed at international festivals and received positive reviews from the audience and filmmakers. Another important condition is being new (the period of filming should be 2021-2022).

The largest number of entries (50) will be shown in the animation competition program, which will debut this year. Other programs will feature from 10 to 14 films made by filmmakers from more than five countries.

Belarusian filmmakers will also participate in the competition programs: Listapadzik, feature and animated films. The Belarusian films created over the past year will also be screened during a separate thematic event: the Day of Belarusian Cinema.

"The festival films will explore the themes of peace, preservation of the land, country, love, family, hope and faith. We will have different films: auteur, big movies, and tragedies. We will also talk about the main, eternal values. True values are important for all of us today," said Vladimir Karachevsky, General Director of the Belarusfilm film studio, director of the Listapad film festival.

Launched in 1994, Listapad is an annual international film festival in Minsk. Among the organizers of the film festival is the Culture Ministry of Belarus, Minsk City Hall and the Belarusfilm national film studio.

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The meeting of the twin cities of Belarus and Russia aims to advance interregional ties, Executive Vice President of the International Association Sister Cities Sergei Paramonov said during the 11th meeting of sister cities of Belarus and Russia in Pskov on 14-16 October, BelTA has learned.

For 24 years the international association has been closely cooperating with the Belarusian public organization Twin Cities. Belarus-Russia meetings have been held on an ongoing basis. The previous discussion of the cooperation between the twin cities of Belarus and Russia took place in October 2021 in the Belarusian Zhodino, and now Russia's Pskov hosted the discussions on ways to further Belarusian-Russian ties.

Sergei Paramonov noted that the international association Sister Cities was founded in 1964. The year 2024 will mark its 60 anniversary and 80th anniversary of the first twinning: between Soviet Stalingrad and English Coventry, which marked the beginning of the entire international movement of twin cities. The association has developed a two-year action plan 2023-2024 dedicated to these two anniversaries and aimed at restoring inter-municipal ties within the framework of public diplomacy.

The event in Pskov brought together representatives of about 60 cities of Belarus and Russia to discuss topical issues of development and prospects for bilateral cooperation. The focus was on trade, economic, investment, social, cultural and educational cooperation.

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko and Russian President sent greetings to the 11th meeting of the twin cities of Belarus and Russia.

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The 2nd international scientific congress “Values, Traditions and Innovations of Modern Sport” will mark the 85th anniversary of the Belarusian State University of Physical Education in Minsk on 13-15 October, BelTA learned from the university.

The concept of the congress will be the connection of knowledge, experience and innovation for professional inspiration of participants. According to the organizers, the event will serve as a platform for information interaction between representatives of the academic and scientific community, government agencies, coaches, athletes, experts and other professionals with a view to further developing the industry.

The forum will feature thematic exhibitions, open discussion platforms, master classes, presentations, round tables, workshops and other activities. The plenary session will take place in the Hall of Olympic Glory of the NOC of Belarus on 13 October.

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We are grateful to Belarusians for preserving our history, Minister Counselor of the Polish Embassy in Belarus Cezary Karpiński told journalists during a ceremony to mark the 79th anniversary of the battle near the village of Lenino in Gorki District, BelTA has learned.

The solemn event dedicated to the Battle of Lenino anniversary was held near the monument to Soviet soldiers in Lenino on 12 October. After laying flowers, the rally participants marched to the Polish cemetery, where they paid tribute to the Polish soldiers who died here in 1943.

“The Battle of Lenino is not only a historical event, we should look at it from today's perspective. This is a good example of mutual understanding. And we are very grateful to local residents, local authorities and society for taking care of the graves of our fellow countrymen. Everything is in good condition. We had many joint projects. And we hope that we will still be able to implement them in the future,” he said.

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Over 100 R&D products are showcased at the 26th international specialized expo “Energy. Ecology. Energy saving. Electro” (EnergyExpo) in the collective section organized by the State Science and Technology Committee of Belarus, BelTA has learned.

 The expo has been organized as part of the Belarusian Energy and Ecology Forum. As many as 115 R&D products of organizations of the Education Ministry, the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, the National Center of Intellectual Property, and other institutions are presented at the expo.

 The products on display include a smart information system for oversight in the area of nuclear and radiation safety eLab-Control. At present the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Department of the Belarusian Emergencies Ministry (Gosatomnadzor) uses the system to keep records about sources of ionizing radiation, configurations of networks, network infrastructure, security of client workstations, security of the server and the databases, nuclear materials with reports intended for the International Atomic Energy Agency, oversight over the construction, commissioning, and operation of the Belarusian nuclear power plant. The system includes modules meant to ensure safety during the construction and commissioning of the Belarusian nuclear power plant, modules to take care of radiation safety of sources of ionizing radiation, and a module for keeping records about nuclear materials, nuclear waste, and spent nuclear material.

 Methodological support and software for analysis and decision-making in the course of working out gas consumption regimes in regional gas supply systems are also presented at the expo. Math models to correlate daily gas consumption to outdoor air temperature have been worked out. Seasonal coefficients and a conditional-constant of gas consumption, which does not depend on the average daily temperature of outdoor air, have been worked out. The system offers economic benefits by minimizing errors in distributing natural gas via regional gas supply systems and across Belarus as a whole.

 Apart from that, the expo features active layers for solar cells and a tracker that adjusts the spatial orientation of a solar cell depending on the Sun's current position. Technologies for making materials for civil engineering and mechanical engineering using textile waste are also presented.

 The other R&D products on display include a LED lamp, which provides energy-effective lighting in greenhouses, phytotrons, and other kinds of controlled environment.

 The Belarusian Energy and Ecology Forum is scheduled to take place in Minsk on 11-14 October.

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There are no prerequisites for product shortages in Belarus, Minister of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade Aleksei Bogdanov told the ONT TV channel, BelTA informs.

“The Ministry of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade (MART) is working on it, checking retail prices and benchmarking them against 5 October. We come across some violations and we will deal with them. One of the tasks set by the head of state is to retain a broad choice of products and prevent market players from leaving the retail sector. This task is being addressed by the MART, the State Control Committee, the prosecutor's office, the police. Violations will not go unpunished. There is no emergency. All enterprises worked at a profit, suppliers and trade were all good. By now prices have been frozen and we need to figure out why there was a rise in prices, and also how to prevent it in the future. There are no prerequisites for any goods to disappear from store shelves,” Aleksei Bogdanov said.

He went on saying: “Some are panicking, but I am sure that time will pass and everyone will return to their normal mode of operation according to the rules that were developed based on the instructions of the head of state. The decision taken concerns not only goods, but also services. E-commerce is also under control.”

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Chairman of the International Affairs Commission of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus Andrei Savinykh spoke about terms of cooperation between Belarus and Europe in the V Teme [On Point] project on BelTA's YouTube channel.

“Indeed, we are destined to be neighbors, but this does not mean that we will always cooperate. And the most important question is about the terms of this cooperation. Over the past 30-40 years, an hierarchical and inherently unjust system has been created in the world. The centerpiece of this system - the United States, Western Europe - sucked out financial, human, natural resources from the countries of the periphery, including from us. We became part of this global system after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Do we need such cooperation with Europe? I am not sure about it. In many ways, prosperity in Europe was created not because of better management, but because they had additional advantages through unequal financial exchange with developing countries. And now this system is really collapsing,” Andrei Savinykh said.

 He added: “We will never agree to the terms of interaction that will harm the Republic of Belarus. This is the first point that the president made when he spoke about global transformations and transition from a unipolar to a multipolar world. But when he spoke about relations, in my opinion, he meant relations with ordinary Europeans with whom we have never had political problems. A great number of forces in Europe want this cooperation and are ready for it. It's just their time has not come, they are not allowed to do it. We are ready to cooperate with these forces, people, business circles. And they know on what principles this cooperation should be built,” Andrei Savinykh said.

 The MP noted that Europe is now a hostage to the situation. “The global superpower is conducting a large-scale campaign to de-industrialize Europe as its positions on the world stage are weakening. And this process will be irreversible. Thus, part of business circles and enterprises can relocate to Belarus in order to stay afloat. Time will tell how this will happen. But I think the Republic of Belarus will always be ready for such an equal and respectful cooperation due to the values ​​on which the Belarusian statehood and society are built, due to the principles of foreign policy that we have been pursuing for more than a decade,” Andrei Savinykh said.

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