Lukashenko optimistic about economic figures this year

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MINSK, September 20 (Itar-Tass) - Belarussian President Alexander
Lukashenko on Saturday expressed hope that a positive pace of economic
development with positive GDP will be maintained this year.
"I hope that by the end of the year we will have positive GDP and
figures at the level of the previous year. I don't believe Belarussian
people must be afraid of something," the Belarussian leader told reporters.
He said gold and foreign currency reserves of the country have
increased, while the share of credit borrowings is quite small in relation
to GDP, and the present level of social expenditures will be maintained
next year.
However, Lukashenko pointed out that the Belarussian economy is very
vulnerable because of its openness. "However, we have started breaking to
new markets through economic, market means," he noted.
According to the president, the timber trade and light industry are
showing signs of revival. He particularly emphasized an 11-percent growth
in agriculture amid the crisis, and also stressed that Belarus consumes
its own food products.

.All-Russia race day starts in Petersburg.

ST. PETERSBURG, September 20 (Itar-Tass) - An All-Russia race day will
be held in St. Petersburg on Sunday, as well as in more than 100 other
cities. At noon sharp local time, participants in the cross will start in
over 100 cities of the country. According to the organizers, this race is
the most large-scale in the world as to the number of participants and
geography.
Over one million people are expected to take part. In St. Petersburg,
their number is expected to make up about 20,000 people. The length of the
track will be five kilometres. The start and finish will be in central
Dvortsovaya (Palace) Square.
Minister for Sports, Tourism and Youth Policy Vitaly Mutko, St.
Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko, Russian president's envoy to the
North-Western Federal District Ilya Klebanov and other officials are
expected to be honoured guests of the event.

.Lukashenko seeks self-financing of agricultural sector.

MINSK, September 20 (Itar-Tass) - Belarus seeks to abandon the
practice of subsidies to the agricultural sector, President Alexander
Lukashenko said at a republican agricultural fair on Saturday.
He said he has been preparing the sector for that for the past three
years. "The base we will create before the end of the five-year plan must
ensure self-financing of the agricultural sector," the president stressed.
However, this does not mean that the state will no longer invest in
agriculture, the president emphasized. Lukashenko said the money would go
only to the programs for which the state is responsible. "To milk, feed,
get meat, milk, process and sell - this is the task of agrarians. We must
revive the land," Lukashenko stressed.
The state has supported the agricultural sector for three five-year
periods, and now it can develop on its own, while the state will engage in
strategic prospects for the development of agriculture, Lukashenko said.
He also set the aim to agricultural workers to harvest next year no
less than ten million tons of grain.

.Russian Investment Fund to grant 500 mln rbls for industrial park.

KAZAN, September 20 (Itar-Tass) - The Investment Fund of the Russian
Federation will grant 500 million roubles for setting up industrial park
Kamskiye Polyany in Tatarstan.
An agreement on that was signed on Saturday by Russian Minister for
Regional Development Viktor Basargin and Prime Minister of Tatarstan
Rustam Minnikhanov. The document was signed at an international investment
forum in Sochi, spokesman for the government of Tatarstan Andrei Kuzmin
told Tass on Saturday.
"As a major producer of polymers Tatarstan has set the task to process
30 percent of products in the republic," the prime minister of Tatarstan
said. "Technology parks of the republic, including industrial park
Kamskiye Polyany, will be implementing that task," he said.
"This is a pilot project - not only economic, but also social, aimed
at supporting single-industry cities," the head of the Russian Ministry
for Regional Development said. Such projects will be also implemented in
other regions of the country, he added.
"The first plant for the production of polymer materials in the
industrial park will be launched in 2009," Minnikhanov continued. He said
280 people work there at the present moment, and 2,000 people will work at
it in the near future.
All in all, 1.7 billion roubles will be invested in the development of
Kamskiye Polyany, which is one of the major innovation projects of
Tatarstan, the prime minister said. Half of them will come from the
Nizhnekamskneftekhim company, while the rest will be allocated from
Tatarstan's budget and the Investment Fund.
Kamskiye Polyany with the population of 10,000 people was founded on
the left bank of the Kama River in 1986, when the construction of a
nuclear power plant was launched in the republic. However, in 1991 the
construction was stopped for safety reasons triggering mass unemployment
in the area.
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