Address of President Alexander Lukashenko to the National Assembly and the Belarusian people

From the first channel of the Belarusian radio

On April 19, 2005, the President of Belarus, Mr. Alexander Lukashenko, made the Address to the National Assembly and the Belarusian people, speaking on the most important political, economic, social developments over the last five years. The Address had been done in accordance with the clause of the Belarusian Constitution. The President has emphasized that Belarus, as a sovereign state with independent, strong and truly people s politics , is at the fundamentally new stage of development . For the very short period of time Belarus could stand up and speak out as a civilized state . The speech could be divided into several blocs.

1. Economy
At the beginning, Mr. Lukashenko highlighted the economic successes that have been achieved until recently. The President emphasized that the pace of growth of the Belarusian economy and is higher, than in the EU and CIS countries. In 2004, the economy-wide average wage went up to approximately 200 USD per month, what is the highest level among the CIS countries . Such a level of income allows people not to think of buying food alone, but also consider other expenditures, particularly on housing and entertainment. The President emphasized that trust to the Belarusian currency increased, while the foreign exchange market and the monetary system both display considerable stability. All this has been done without any kind of foreign relief and support, but contrary to it , added Mr. Lukashenko. He also criticized the IMF and other international financial institutions unproductive policies towards countries with economies in transition. No one would play for us a role of a good guy , said Mr. Lukashenko. Instead, we would be pushed to the roadside by reforms aimed at obstructing the economy .

By following its own, unique way of development, Belarus will increase its GDP [from 2000] to the end of 2005 by 44 per cent (contrary to 35 per cent planned earlier). Similarly, other major indicators will also pass ahead of the planned figures (in brackets). In particular, it is expected that between 2000 and 2005 industrial output would increase by 50 per cent (28 per cent planned), agricultural output by 35 per cent (22 per cent planned), and investment in fixed capital by 75 per cent (60 per cent planned). Another positive feature is a very low unemployment rate, which is permanently decreasing . However, there are some disparities in the structure of employment and unemployment. These are to be cured by redistribution of labor resources , including the compulsory job assignments of university and college graduates.

Overall, such impressive economic dynamics would allow to achieve the average wage of 250 USD per month by the end of 2005. For the current year, approaches to and features of major policies have been set up . One of the major aims is to pay a rather decent attention to the laggard enterprises and organizations . Those are often located at the periphery , in some distant areas of Belarus. There is an urgent need to reanimate these units and this is to be done via their attachment to the corporate structures and insertion into the chains managed by large and profitable economic units. Such measures would allow pay employees of peripheral enterprises up to 200 USD per month.

Commenting on the efficiency of the enterprise sector and the economy as a whole, Mr. Lukashenko claimed that while we produce more than in the Soviet Union times, we sell cheaply, and that is why we live in poverty . According to him, the root of the evil is various intermediary structures that has to be get rid off. The pricing policies have to be designed with the aim of erecting barriers against the unjustified price hikes caused by bureaucratic arbitrariness . The President ensured that prices for food, consumer goods, tariffs for public utilities and transport could change only gradually and in consideration of incomes of the population . Speaking on the level of living, the President said that only 2 per cent of the Belarusian population lives for 2 USD per day , what is a very good indicator, comparable to developed countries .

As for tax system of Belarus, it should become convenient for people . Accordingly, the tax system has to be reformed in such a way that it will be advantageous to pay taxes , preventing them from searching for loopholes to hide from taxation, added Mr. Lukashenko. This system requires debureaucratization and simplification, while the responsibility for tax evasion should be made stricter . The President informed that a draft law on taxation has been prepared and soon will be submitted for discussion at the National Assembly.

According to Mr. Lukashenko, the urgent task for the whole Belarusian economy is to enhance its competitiveness. This task emanates from the import-dependent and export-oriented character of the economy. That is why Belarus is making preparations to join the World Trade Organization . However, the President said that the WTO membership is not the goal in itself, but one of the ways to increase competitiveness, so there is no danger if Belarus would not join it.

2. Politics
The political bloc of the Address included passages, expressing the nature of the political power and authority in Belarus, comments on the revolutions in some of the CIS countries, and opinions on the relationships with Russia and other countries of the world, including members of the European Union. Speaking of the colored revolutions , Mr. Lukashenko said that all these events are by no means [could be labeled] revolutions . Often, it is the mere and open banditry under the guise of democracy . In fact, there is money invested into such events, and it has to be paid back by the people and not by those who took them to perform revolutions . As for Belarus, the limit for such events had been already exhausted by the Belarusian people in the course of the last century. He claimed that Poland and Ukraine create camps onto their territories to train opponents of the political regime in Belarus and mentioned some of the activities of the Polish Catholic Church in the negative sense. The President maintained that the destructive circles in the West and some sick people want to influence the situation in Belarus, but the Belarusians are different kind of folks so the destructive work has showed no good results.

According to him, the West has granted substantial funding for intensifying informational pressure on Belarus . The money is transported via the Embassies, including the Polish one. We could oppose to that by only one means speaking truth about our life , said Mr. Lukashenko. The President also criticized the Belarusian opposition, the members of which are those who were in power , but now just fight to regain it disregarding the people s interests and aspirations. According to him, the single democratic candidate was chosen during the visit of the opposition to the USA. The latter was mentioned among the countries that attempt to teach Belarus democracy , but in fact have more problems with it at home. The evidence is the systematic violations at the presidential elections in the USA and the turned-into-farce referenda in the EU accession countries . Nevertheless, the relationship with the unified, but decaying Mother Europe would be continued on a pragmatic basis . We are ready to the dialogue on the equitable grounds both with the EU and the USA, stressed Mr. Lukashenko. Overall, the foreign policies of Belarus would continue to be multi-scalar , as usual.

The President firmly stated that there is no such money in Belarus that could overthrow the current authority , and we would give no one the flags , the staff of which will then be used to bang on us . According to him, there are four major sources of stability and power in Belarus that prevent any revolutionary action, namely strong and efficient authority, stable economy, developed state ideology, and sound basis of the civil society .

3. Society
In his Address to the Parliament, the President also spoke on education and healthcare as elements of social policies implemented in Belarus. In the words of Mr. Lukashenko, the Belarusian system of education is built on the traditions of the Soviet Union, and that makes it excellent , even according to the Western standards. There is no danger that the Belarusian diploma would not be recognized abroad , since the Belarusian educational establishments train students to work in Belarus. According to the President, working abroad is disadvantageous for the Belarusian citizens since they could be only assistants , small screws in the machine , while the commanding heights and managerial positions are inaccessible for them. We need egg-headed , clever and well-educated people at home, said Mr. Lukashenko. He emphasized that the Belarusian education system is not only aimed at training students, but also serves as a powerful tool of ideological training . In the words of the President, education is the holistic worldview and has to be based on the values of patriotism. This is similar to what the USA is doing. All teachers and lecturers should remember that they work for the most pro-governmental establishments and should not be allowed to present their personal opinions except for the matter of discussion . Speaking on the system of healthcare, Mr. Lukashenko stressed the necessity to preserve free medical service. However, there is the certain minimum to be provided for free. Overall, the targets of social policies in Belarus are healthcare, education, the growth of well-being, and the provision of social justice . This could allow make the Belarusian economy closer to the European countries.

Calling upon the National Assembly, The President of Belarus stressed the need to increase efficiency of the law-making, and particularly the need to introduce economic laws with regards to the WTO standards.