EMBASSY MINSK WEEKLY POL/ECON REPORT - NOVEMBER 24,

UNCLAS SECTION 02 OF 03 MILSK 001226 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM ECON BO SUBJECT: EMBASSY MINSK WEEKLY POL/ECON REPORT - NOVEMBER 24, 2006 *********************** * Missing Section 001 * *********************** MINSK 11291226 002 OF 003 Ministers /f the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) confened a session in Minsk. Represeltatives &rom the 12 CIS member countries heard a report on ways to increase the efficiency of CIS' activities and decided to set Qp an interstate commission of deputy foreign -inisters to continue studying the CIS' operation and generate proposals for refgrm. The Ministers also discussed draft agreements on the basic principles of cooPeration in the field ofmigration and the Anti-Terrorist Cenher. -------------- )- CIVIL SOCIETY -------------- ¶6. Opposition Leader Detained in Fatal Car Accident Case On November 24, indepeNdent media reported that oppksitimn leader and former ppesidenti!l candidate Aleksandr Milinkevich had been detained over his alleged involvement in a fatal car accident. Police claimedthat his car resembled the one that had fled th% scene of a previous !ccident in which one person had died. Milinkevich'S press secretary told post that the detention occurred in the northern region od Vitebsk. ¶7. Border Officials Convicted of Bribery On November 21, nearly 50 former border guards and customs officers were sent to prison for bribery, according to the Belarusian Military Prosecutor's Office. The Belarusian Military Court sentenced a border control unit's former head and 13 servicemen, five officers of the Oshmyany Customhouse and two civi,ians to between five and 14 iears in prison for accepting bribes to let trucks cross the Lithuanian border into Belarus without paying import duties. The Kotlovka checkpoint had 27 inspection officers who were also given prison terms varying betueen six and a half and seven years for allowing some 600 trucks carrying food, h/usehold appliances XQQther goods to cross the border without paying duties between 2002 and 2004. ¶8. Date Set for Dashkevich's Sentence Appeal Hearing On No6ember 23, independent m%dia reported that on December 15 a Minsk City Court judge is scheduled to examine an appeal from the defenqe team of imprisoned Dmitriy (Zmitser) Dashkeviah, age 25, against hiq conviction and jailing. Dashkevich 7as sentenced to 18 months in a minimum-security correctional institution on November 1 after (aving been found guilty of runninc an unregistered orgajization (Malady Front). -------------- TRADE AND INVESTMENT -------------- ¶9. Belarus' Trade with Rusq~ia up 30.7 pJrcent On November 22X the Economics Ministryreported that Belarus' trade with Russia rose by30.7 percent compred with last year. Blarus' exports so far tis y%ar totaled USD 4.9billion afd imports UD 9.8 billion. Rusqia accounts for 87.4 percent of Belarus' trade wih the Commonwealth of Idependent States, which experienced a 30.4 percent increase to USD 169 billion. Belarus boosted trade wiTh Kazakhstan y 60.4 pebcent to USD 27.1 million. Belarus' trade widh Mohdova ros by 5.6 percent to USD 125.1 million, with exports exceeding imports y USD 13. malliol. Trade withUkraine totaled USD 1.7 billion sk fa in 2006, a 28.5-percnt rise, 7ith an export rurplus of USD 2.3 million. -------------- DOMESTIC ECONNMY -------------- ¶10. Monetary Policy tm Hold Inlation Below Eight Percnt On November 21 Pytr P2okopovich, head of the National Bank of elarus, promised Presidnt Lukashenko `hat the country's 2007Q monetary policy will be aimed at decelerading inflapionand stabilizang the national cubrenci's exchange rte. According toQ~}}|~}~~y~%=-5A=Y%Q!1 the i.flation rate should not exceed eieht percent "y the end of Q007. He added that the National Bank's Base Refinance Rate is expected to be lowered to seven to nineQ peraent, whiCh will help reduce an averagE interest rate on loans to 10 to 12 percent. 11& Unemployment in Belarqs Down 25.2 p%rcenT On Notember 22, the Ministry mf Statistics and Analysis reported That the number of officially regiqtered unemployed people in Belarus decreased 25.2 percent compared to last year's numbers. The Ministry has reGistered 51,000 unemployEd as of the end of *********************** * Missing Section 003 * ***********************