Belarus President approves state border security policy for 2010

MINSK, 18 January (BelTA) – President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has approved the state border security policy and border security efforts to be implemented in the Republic of Belarus in 2010, BelTA learnt from the presidential press service.

The President was informed on the operation of the border service in 2009 and the major tasks set for 2010. At present, apart from protecting the state border, the border service coordinates the implementation of the state border policy with the local authorities. The reformation of the border service is complete and there will not be any need for reforms within the next decade.

The President heard out a report on the situation on the Belarusian-Russian administrative border, the borders with the EU and Ukraine. Alexander Lukashenko expressed concern over the information coming from the Belarusian-Russian administrative border. “I am worried about the information that comes from the Belarusian-Russian border against the background of the formation of the Customs Union of Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan. Contrary to our arrangements, the border control is being tightened. It is not ok when such things happen when we work on establishing the single customs territory and are members of the Union State,” Alexander Lukashenko said. He asked to check this information and report on the results.

Apart from that, the President asked to study separately the situation on the Belarus-Ukraine border, saying that it is the most troublesome part of the border. “It is not that we are worried about the situation on the Ukrainian border. It is just because there were more things to do there,” the Belarusian head of state said.

Belarus has started the preparations for the state border demarcation. The process will be launched once Belarus ratifies the treaty on the state border with Ukraine. Belarus completed the demarcation with the Baltic states (with Latvia on 18 February 2009 and with Lithuania on 19 June 2008).

The agreements on travels regulating travels of citizens of frontier regions with Lithuania, Latvia and Poland were considered at the meeting. According to the estimates once they are signed, passenger flow with these countries will increase. These agreements will enhance the attractiveness of Belarus for foreign tourists, give an impetus to the development of frontier regions of the country and eradicate extra red tape in the communication of people who have ethical roots or family abroad.

In 2009 alone some 3.5 million Belarusians crossed the Belarusian border crossing points at least once. Some 1.5 million of them went to the EU countries and around 2 million people to Ukraine. Despite the global financial crisis, the passenger and transport flow remained virtually at the level of 2008.

In 2009, the Belarus Border Committee itself and in cooperation with KGB, the Interior Ministry and the State Customs Committee seized material values to the tune of more than Br34.6 billion.

Some 515 border violators were detained in 2009, the same number as in 2008. The number of illegal transit migrants downed from 124 to 111 people. At the same time the number of detentions for the violation of the border legislation has increased significantly – from 4471 to 7184 people.

Last year the work on optimizing the border zone depth and simplifying border crossing rules was completed. About 2,000 permits a year to visit the border zone were issued earlier. More than 4,000 permits were issued in 2009. At the same time the level of the security remained the same and control over the stay of foreign citizens in border zones was ensured.

In 2009, the Belarus Border Committee developed cooperation both with border services of the neighboring countries and the Belarusian law-enforcement bodies. The Committee continued working on using more domestically-made equipment in the state border protection, developing the potential of the border service aviation.

The head of state also approved the setting up of the Border Service Institute in Belarus.

Source:law.by/

Are IMF loans for Belarus the main reason

The IMF is ready to intervene in the oil dispute of Moscow and Minsk. Experts think that the IMF have decided to join the game.

The IMF permanent representative in Belarus Natalia Kolyadina has stated that the foundation is set to rry out talks on conditions of oil import from Russia, Vzglyad newspaper writes.

“We haven’t completely calculated the influence of changed terms of oil import in Belarus at balance of payments. It would be done during the future mission,” Kolyadina said.

Besides, as said by the permanent representative, measures needed for minimization of the negative influence on balance of payments and further implementation of stand-by program are to be discussed.

We remind that Russia and Belarus entered the new 2010 year without an agreement on oil deliveries and transit. Oil transit via Belarus to Europe continues, as well as deliveries to Belarusian refineries. The issue of deliveries of Russian oil to Belarus is still up in the air.

Interstate dispute

Yevgeny Minchenko, Director of the International Institute of Political Expertise, wonders: “I sincerely do not understand what the OMF has to do with that, as it is a dispute between the states?”

Russia’s stand in this contest is dispute is more than clear: there are internal wants of Belarus, about 8 million tons of oil, and part of them Belarus provides itself, and the rest, 6.3 million tons, Russia is ready to deliver on duty-free basis. The rest which is delivered abroad is naturally offered to be delieved with duties.

“Otherwise it happens that we discriminate against our own manufacturers; our Belarusian colleges get an opportunity to compete I the same markets where we enter. The issue in question is dozens millions tons of oil. It turns out that the budget and Russian enterprises have losses,” the analyst noted, adding that the last three years the favourable regime of taxation has resulted in $10 billion loss for Russia.

Another part of the dispute is pumping tariff. “Belarusians say that their tariffs are lower than in Russia. It is really so, but one should understand that investment component is added to the cost of oil pumping through Russia,” Minchenko said.

These are pipelines which Russia has to construct additionally (For instance, “South Stream”). And in Belarus everything has been constructed already. “Statements of this wonderful organisation seem rather strange for me,” the analyst cincluded.

Are loans the reason?

An expert with the Russian Political Situation Center, Dmitry Abazalov linked energizing of the IMF in the oil dispute of Moscow and Minsk with offering the last credit line. We remind that Belarus is implementing payment balance stabilization program with IMF, which is supported by a stand-by credit of 3.63 billion dollars from January 2009 to April 2010. The IMF has granted Belarus almost 2.9 billion dollars.

“Expecting the loan, Belarus once offered European partners to privatize part of active assets. It is clear that this privatization is not profitable for them, but Belarus can try to play with the IMF,” the expert believes. And the IMF may try to play on contradictions of Moscow and Minsk.

It is a different story that the IMF will act strictly within the framework of the set borders: the European leadership does not need destabilization of the situation.

At the same time, Abzalov believes that despite of all agreements, all these statements are to remain at the level of promises. “It seems to me that the IMF is simply trying to gain a footing in the region,” he said.

Source:charter97.org/

European Parliament: We didn’t invite Belarusian MPs

A working group on forming the Eastern Partnership Parliamentary Assembly has its first meeting in the building of the European Parliament on January 14.




The meeting focused on the principle of representation of the EU national parliaments in the initiative.



Belarus was represented by Syarhei Maskevich, the head of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Ties with the CIS of the “house of representatives”, and Nina Mazai, the head of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and National Security of the “council of the republic”.



However, this does not mean that the European Parliament has recognized the Belarusian parliament as legitimate, Euroradio learnt from a source in this European institution. The meeting was organized by the Swedish Parliament, not by the European Parliament. Invitations were sent by Goran Lennmarker, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Swedish Parliament.



“This meeting was organized by the Swedish Parliament. The fact that it took place in the building of the European Parliament was simply a technical issue of having a venue. Indeed the European Parliament has little to do with this event,” the EP representative says.



When asked why opposition leaders were not invited, the source said that this issue was decided by the Swedish side, i.e. the European Parliament had nothing to do with this decision.



We remind that the European Parliament does not recognize Lukashenka’s “national assembly” as legitimate, because the 2008 parliamentary elections were not recognized free and fair.



Various European countries have different views on the invitation of Belarusian MPs to EURONEST.



“Parliamentarians from several EU member countries do not agree that the delegation of Belarus should comprise the members of the Belarusian parliament. Their national parliaments will not endorse this concept. The European Parliament does object to this concept as well. But, the European Parliament is not directly linked with this issue,” the EP representative said.



The meeting on January 14 was attended by representatives of the UK, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden and Spain. Lithuania spoke against the participation of the Belarusian MPs.



There are several options for Belarus to participate in EURONEST. Firstly, MPs only can be part of the Belarusian delegation. Secondly, there could be both MPs and representatives of the opposition (5+5). The third option is that Belarus is represented by opposition politicians only.



However, any participation of the opposition would be of status significance only, inviting Belarusian MPs would mean that EU values are disregarded.



“inclusion of representatives of the official “parliament” only in the Eastern Partnership Parliamentary Assembly would mean recognition of the falsification system in Belarus” politologist Yury Chavusau thinks.



Taking the final decision on the Belarusian delegation to Euronest is expected within the next several weeks. On January 21, this issue will be discussed by the president of the European Parliament, leaders of political groups and one independent MEP.



EURONEST's founding conference is preliminary scheduled for March 2010. There will be 60 seats for MEPs and 10 seats for each of the Eastern Partnership member states: Belarus, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

Source:charter97.org/