MINSK) - Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will visit Belarus on Monday, the Italian ambassador was quoted by state media as saying Tuesday, after the EU decided to upgrade ties with the ex-Soviet state.
"Belarus and Italy... could in the near future make a major breakthrough in mutually-advantageous cooperation, which the upcoming November 30 visit to Minsk of Silvio Berlusconi shows," state news agency Belta quoted Ambassador Giulio Prigioni as saying.
If confirmed, Berlusconi would be one of the only Western leaders to travel to Belarus since President Alexander Lukashenko came to power in 1994 and was later dubbed by the United States "the last dictator in Europe."
Word of the Berlusconi visit came after European Union nations on November 17 agreed to seek improved ties with Belarus, and refrained from enforcing a travel ban on its leaders.
Source:eubusiness.com
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Italy's Berlo ends Belarus isolation with visit
MINSK: Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will become the first Western leader in a decade to visit Belarus when he travels there this month,marking another milestone in the ex-Soviet country's efforts to open to the EU.
Contacts between Minsk and Western countries became limited from the second half of the 1990s onwards, due to frequent criticism of human rights and democratic standards in Belarus from European and US governments and rights groups. But Minsk has improved relations with the West, releasing imprisoned opposition politicians and joining the EU's eastern neighbourhood programme with other ex-Soviet states.
At the same time, its relations with close ally Moscow have deteriorated. Earlier this year, Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko broke through the period of isolation by making an official visit to Italy and has since said he wants to further improve ties with the West. Now, Berlusconi will make a reciprocal visit on Nov. 30, Belarussian state news agency BelTA quoted Italy's ambassador to Minsk, Giulio Prigioni, as saying.
"This visit is a response to the visit of Alexander Lukashenko in Italy and the Vatican this spring," said Prigioni. "Belarus and Italy are at a very important stage of intensification of relations... this is proved by the forthcoming visit of Silvio Berlusconi to Minsk on 30 November," he said. In early November, the EU prolonged a freeze on restrictions against Belarus as an incentive for further reforms.
The controls, including a visa ban against Lukashenko, were imposed after criticism of 2006 elections. Following Lukashenko's visit to Rome earlier this year, Italy has advocated the complete abolition of sanctions against Belarus. Berlusconi will travel to Minsk days after a visit by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, where he is expected to sign a customs union deal with Belarus and Kazakhstan. The three countries are trying to coordinate entry to the World Trade Organisation.
Source:indiatimes.com
Contacts between Minsk and Western countries became limited from the second half of the 1990s onwards, due to frequent criticism of human rights and democratic standards in Belarus from European and US governments and rights groups. But Minsk has improved relations with the West, releasing imprisoned opposition politicians and joining the EU's eastern neighbourhood programme with other ex-Soviet states.
At the same time, its relations with close ally Moscow have deteriorated. Earlier this year, Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko broke through the period of isolation by making an official visit to Italy and has since said he wants to further improve ties with the West. Now, Berlusconi will make a reciprocal visit on Nov. 30, Belarussian state news agency BelTA quoted Italy's ambassador to Minsk, Giulio Prigioni, as saying.
"This visit is a response to the visit of Alexander Lukashenko in Italy and the Vatican this spring," said Prigioni. "Belarus and Italy are at a very important stage of intensification of relations... this is proved by the forthcoming visit of Silvio Berlusconi to Minsk on 30 November," he said. In early November, the EU prolonged a freeze on restrictions against Belarus as an incentive for further reforms.
The controls, including a visa ban against Lukashenko, were imposed after criticism of 2006 elections. Following Lukashenko's visit to Rome earlier this year, Italy has advocated the complete abolition of sanctions against Belarus. Berlusconi will travel to Minsk days after a visit by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, where he is expected to sign a customs union deal with Belarus and Kazakhstan. The three countries are trying to coordinate entry to the World Trade Organisation.
Source:indiatimes.com
Belarusian Parliamentarians To Visit South Ossetia, Abkhazia
MINSK -- A group of Belarusian lawmakers will travel to Georgia and its breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia to decide if they should have parliamentary discussions about the recognizing the regions as independent states, RFE/RL's Belarus Service reports.
Syarhey Matskevich, the chairman of the parliamentary International Affairs Commission, told journalists on November 5 that the group will meet with Georgian officials in Tbilisi and visit its breakaway regions from November 17-20. He said the parliamentary group will also hold talks on the issue with members of the Russian State Duma in Moscow.
Matskevich said that after the visit the commission will decide if it is necessary to hold a debate in parliament over the possible recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states. Russia recognized the two Georgian regions after a five-day war with Georgian forces in August 2008.
Nicaragua and Venezuela have in recent months also recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Moscow has pressured Minsk to also recognize the regions as independent, though the European Union has sought to keep Belarus from taking such a move.
The EU is scheduled to discuss lifting sanctions against Belarus on November 16, one day before the Belarusian delegation travels to Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Source:rferl.org
A year later, teen is back home in Belarus, happy
The sky is already darkening as I search for Tanya's home among the various structures that serve as houses in the village of Borisov, Belarus.
Her home lies on the outskirts of town. The streets are largely unmarked, muddy, unpaved and filled with deep rain puddles. Grandmothers fill buckets of water at the street corners to get water for homes largely lacking indoor plumbing, although they do have electricity. The neighborhood is a sort of ancient-looking shantytown. It is hard to guess the age of the homes, but most of them are barely standing and resemble the cottages one might expect in an old fairytale.
The drive from Minsk is the end of a long, two-day journey for project vice president Linda McMahon and me. We plan to check on the well-being of our program's former host child, Tanya Kazyra.
A homesick Tanya, then 16, returned to Belarus last November after she had chosen to stay on with her host family in Rohnert Park after the end of our summer health-respite program. Her refusal to leave caused the government of Belarus to shut down the program. The United States and Belarus have yet to come to an agreement that will allow us to resume our program.
We have spoken to Tanya on the phone and she is eager to see us. Our driver has made many stops and starts in the town as we try to find her home. Suddenly, her head pops out from a front-yard gate.
Tanya looks wonderful; her skin is clear and her figure trim. She rushes out and gives both Linda and me a big hug. Her grandmother follows behind her and embraces us as well. They both look so happy to see us. They escort us inside and take our hats, coats and scarves. Following their tradition, we also remove our shoes near the entrance.
Inside, the home is warm and cozy, but the smell of mold and mildew assails my sinuses. An old brick woodstove heats the home. White lace curtains hang on the windows and the walls are covered with flocked floral wallpaper. They give us the best seats in the house and Tanya's grandmother hurriedly unfolds a table from the wall and opens it up in front of us. She has known of our coming and has prepared many things for us, and also sets out a bottle of sweet red wine and a bottle of vodka.
I ask Tanya if I might use the restroom and she suddenly looks at me with teenage embarrassment. The house has no indoor plumbing and she apologizes as she leads me to the toilet, stopping first to put back on our coats and boots. I try to assure her that it is no big deal. The outhouse is immediately off the back of the house. The light fixture in the outhouse does not work, so I try to find my way around in the dark.
Tanya waits for me outside and takes me to the back porch, a rickety structure full of dry rot, and leads me to a sink. Next to the sink is a red child's sand bucket that is full of water. Tanya gently dips a cup into the bucket and apologizes for the coldness of the water as she pours it over my hands so I might wash them.
Tanya's aunt arrives with two of her children. She lives across the street with her husband and three of her four children. There is no sign of Tanya's father and he is not mentioned. Tanya's cousins are very charming and it is easy to see how fond she is of them. The cousins and aunt join us for the meal of potato latkes, chicken, bread, cheeses and cold cuts. At the end of the meal, a beautiful cake purchased from a local bakery is brought out and served with tea.
After the meal, Tanya leads us back to her bedroom, which is decorated with stuffed animals and pictures of her friends and family. She is particularly proud of a picture of her with her college class. She beams as she tells us that she is finally getting good grades! She expresses some dismay that she is forgetting her English, although we assure her she is doing quite well.
We ask how it went upon her return to Belarus, if the teachers and students treated her well at school. She tells us that many of the students were angry with her for the cancellation of the program and a teacher was giving her a bad time, but the principal put a stop to the harassment. She expresses sadness that the children she was with in our program for so many years are probably angry with her now that they can no longer travel to the United States for health respites in the summertime.
As the evening grows late, Tanya plays with her kittens and her young cousins while her grandmother and aunt watch over her. Despite the meager surroundings and a home that would be destined for condemnation in most places in America, Tanya is happy and surrounded by love.
Ruth Hansen--Williams is visiting the Ukraine and Belarus to produce a documentary on the children of Chernobyl with the working title of "Little Chernobyl." The documentary is being filmed by Peripheral Productions. The corporate sponsor is Cotati Ambulance Company, Pro-Transport One.
She is accompanied by Linda McMahon of Petaluma, vice president of the Chernobyl Childrens Project of Sonoma and Marin counties. It is the group's first trip into the region in 20 years.
Until is was suspenced last year, the project had provided Belarusian children with an annual six-week reprieve from the lingering radiation effects that plagued their country following the 1986 nuclear disaster in neighboring Ukraine.
Source:pressdemocrat.com
Belarus hammer throwers face new delay for doping hearing at CAS to win back Olympic medals
Belarusians must wait for Olympic doping hearing
LAUSANNE, Switzerland — Two Belarusian hammer throwers stripped of their Olympic medals for doping must wait until next year to try to win them back at an appeal hearing.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport said Thursday that a new delay means Vadim Devyatovskiy and Ivan Tsikhan will plead their case over three days from Jan. 25-27.
The hearing was originally set for one day last July, then put back until Dec. 4-5.
Devyatovskiy and Tsikhan won silver and bronze medals at the Beijing Games, then tested positive for abnormal levels of testosterone.
The International Olympic Committee disqualified the pair last December.
Devyatovskiy could face a lifetime ban for his second doping offense. Tsikhan is a three-time world champion.
Source:taragana.com
Belarus opposition calls for closer ties with EU
MINSK — Hundreds of Belarussians from the opposition gathered Saturday in the capital Minsk for a "European forum" to encourage closer ties with the European Union, ahead of a meeting in Brussels next week.
"Belarus needs economic, political and social modernising, and our principal partner of course is the EU", said the leader of the main opposition party Movement for Liberty, Alexander Milinkevitch.
EU nations next week will approve talks on boosting cooperation with Belarus, and refrain from enforcing a travel ban on its leaders, according to EU officials.
The pro-European Belarussians gathered with EU flags in the suburb of Minsk with the aim to summarise their objectives and appealed to Belarussian authorities to respect their civil liberties.
In a video-recorded message to the forum, former Czech president Vaclav Havel said he was "sure that sooner or later we will welcome our Belarussian friends into the EU".
Many participants said the very staging of the forum showed progress compared with the situation two or three years ago, when President Alexander Lukashenko's regime clamped-down hard on all opposition.
Lukashenko, once dubbed "Europe's last dictator" by the United States, has ruled the ex-Soviet republic of 10 million people since 1994 but has made recent attempts at greater openness including hiring a Western PR firm and cautious economic reform.
Milinkevitch describes the changes in society as "cosmetic", except for the release of political prisoners, but told AFP that "even though there is an authoritarian regime, we want to engage in proper relations with the EU".
"In Belarus the number of people who want to see their country in the EU is rising and this forum represents these people", said the deputy of Movement for Liberty, Viktar Karneyenka.
"We want to take part in the development of a strategy for EU-Belarussian relations", Karneyenka said, emphasising they must not "be content to observe the dialogue between Belarus and the EU. We must participate in it".
Many European representatives were present at the forum, including Polish member of the European parliament Jacek Protasiewicz, who said "Belarus needs Europe, but the EU needs Belarus as well".
Source:http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jW11bIBLFzXyfrWzPJiMrWYdjCQg
"Belarus needs economic, political and social modernising, and our principal partner of course is the EU", said the leader of the main opposition party Movement for Liberty, Alexander Milinkevitch.
EU nations next week will approve talks on boosting cooperation with Belarus, and refrain from enforcing a travel ban on its leaders, according to EU officials.
The pro-European Belarussians gathered with EU flags in the suburb of Minsk with the aim to summarise their objectives and appealed to Belarussian authorities to respect their civil liberties.
In a video-recorded message to the forum, former Czech president Vaclav Havel said he was "sure that sooner or later we will welcome our Belarussian friends into the EU".
Many participants said the very staging of the forum showed progress compared with the situation two or three years ago, when President Alexander Lukashenko's regime clamped-down hard on all opposition.
Lukashenko, once dubbed "Europe's last dictator" by the United States, has ruled the ex-Soviet republic of 10 million people since 1994 but has made recent attempts at greater openness including hiring a Western PR firm and cautious economic reform.
Milinkevitch describes the changes in society as "cosmetic", except for the release of political prisoners, but told AFP that "even though there is an authoritarian regime, we want to engage in proper relations with the EU".
"In Belarus the number of people who want to see their country in the EU is rising and this forum represents these people", said the deputy of Movement for Liberty, Viktar Karneyenka.
"We want to take part in the development of a strategy for EU-Belarussian relations", Karneyenka said, emphasising they must not "be content to observe the dialogue between Belarus and the EU. We must participate in it".
Many European representatives were present at the forum, including Polish member of the European parliament Jacek Protasiewicz, who said "Belarus needs Europe, but the EU needs Belarus as well".
Source:http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jW11bIBLFzXyfrWzPJiMrWYdjCQg
Belarus opposition calls for closer ties with EU
MINSK — Hundreds of Belarussians from the opposition gathered Saturday in the capital Minsk for a "European forum" to encourage closer ties with the European Union, ahead of a meeting in Brussels next week.
"Belarus needs economic, political and social modernising, and our principal partner of course is the EU", said the leader of the main opposition party Movement for Liberty, Alexander Milinkevitch.
EU nations next week will approve talks on boosting cooperation with Belarus, and refrain from enforcing a travel ban on its leaders, according to EU officials.
The pro-European Belarussians gathered with EU flags in the suburb of Minsk with the aim to summarise their objectives and appealed to Belarussian authorities to respect their civil liberties.
In a video-recorded message to the forum, former Czech president Vaclav Havel said he was "sure that sooner or later we will welcome our Belarussian friends into the EU".
Many participants said the very staging of the forum showed progress compared with the situation two or three years ago, when President Alexander Lukashenko's regime clamped-down hard on all opposition.
Lukashenko, once dubbed "Europe's last dictator" by the United States, has ruled the ex-Soviet republic of 10 million people since 1994 but has made recent attempts at greater openness including hiring a Western PR firm and cautious economic reform.
Milinkevitch describes the changes in society as "cosmetic", except for the release of political prisoners, but told AFP that "even though there is an authoritarian regime, we want to engage in proper relations with the EU".
"In Belarus the number of people who want to see their country in the EU is rising and this forum represents these people", said the deputy of Movement for Liberty, Viktar Karneyenka.
"We want to take part in the development of a strategy for EU-Belarussian relations", Karneyenka said, emphasising they must not "be content to observe the dialogue between Belarus and the EU. We must participate in it".
Many European representatives were present at the forum, including Polish member of the European parliament Jacek Protasiewicz, who said "Belarus needs Europe, but the EU needs Belarus as well".
Source:taragana.com
"Belarus needs economic, political and social modernising, and our principal partner of course is the EU", said the leader of the main opposition party Movement for Liberty, Alexander Milinkevitch.
EU nations next week will approve talks on boosting cooperation with Belarus, and refrain from enforcing a travel ban on its leaders, according to EU officials.
The pro-European Belarussians gathered with EU flags in the suburb of Minsk with the aim to summarise their objectives and appealed to Belarussian authorities to respect their civil liberties.
In a video-recorded message to the forum, former Czech president Vaclav Havel said he was "sure that sooner or later we will welcome our Belarussian friends into the EU".
Many participants said the very staging of the forum showed progress compared with the situation two or three years ago, when President Alexander Lukashenko's regime clamped-down hard on all opposition.
Lukashenko, once dubbed "Europe's last dictator" by the United States, has ruled the ex-Soviet republic of 10 million people since 1994 but has made recent attempts at greater openness including hiring a Western PR firm and cautious economic reform.
Milinkevitch describes the changes in society as "cosmetic", except for the release of political prisoners, but told AFP that "even though there is an authoritarian regime, we want to engage in proper relations with the EU".
"In Belarus the number of people who want to see their country in the EU is rising and this forum represents these people", said the deputy of Movement for Liberty, Viktar Karneyenka.
"We want to take part in the development of a strategy for EU-Belarussian relations", Karneyenka said, emphasising they must not "be content to observe the dialogue between Belarus and the EU. We must participate in it".
Many European representatives were present at the forum, including Polish member of the European parliament Jacek Protasiewicz, who said "Belarus needs Europe, but the EU needs Belarus as well".
Source:taragana.com
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