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RR RUEHAST RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHLA RUEHMRE RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHSK #0412/01 1380803
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 180803Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY MINSK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6031
INFO RUCNOSC/ORGANIZATION FOR SECURITY COOPERATION IN EUROPE
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MINSK 000412 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM ECON EPET ENRG BO
SUBJECT: EMBASSY MINSK WEEKLY POL/ECON REPORT - MAY 18, 2007 
 
¶1.  The following are brief items of interest compiled by Embassy 
Minsk. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
Civil Society 
------------- 
 
- Opposition Activists Protest Children's Benefits Cut (para. 2) 
- Opposition Calls for Solidarity with Indicted Youth (para. 3) 
- Opposition Seeks Legal Action against Pro-GOB Rally (para. 4) 
 
International Relations 
----------------------- 
 
- Vietnam's Public Security Ministry Visits Belarus (para. 5) 
- GOB Seeks Extension of Trans-Euro Corridor to Minsk (para. 6) 
 
International Trade and Investment 
---------------------------------- 
 
- Belarus Lags Far Behind GOB Foreign Trade Targets (para. 7) 
- GOB Official Calls for Import Duty on Canned Food (para. 8) 
 
Domestic Economy 
---------------- 
 
- Consumer Prices Up 2.8 Percent (para. 9) 
- Crude Oil Refining Down 4.3 Percent (para. 10) 
- Industrial Output Up 13.1 Percent (para. 11) 
- Automobile Fuel Prices Jump Five Percent (para. 12) 
 
- QUOTE OF THE WEEK (para. 13) 
 
CIVIL SOCIETY 
------------- 
 
¶2.  Opposition Activists Protest Children's Benefits Cut 
 
On May 16, chapters of the opposition Belarusian Social Democratic 
Party "Gramada" (BSDP) and the Belarusian Party of Communists in 
Gomel and Brest announced their applications to city authorities to 
stage rallies on June 1 to protest the GOB's plans to abolish 
certain children's benefits.  Brest BSDP Head Igor Maslovskiy 
described the demonstrations as part of a broader protest campaign. 
Maslovskiy also noted that BSDP activist Georgiy Rutskiy has 
embarked on a bicycle tour across the Brest region to attract public 
attention to the GOB plans. 
 
¶3.  Opposition Calls for Solidarity with Indicted Youth 
 
On May 15, a group of prominent Belarusian opposition politicians 
and intellectuals issued a statement calling upon the public to come 
to a Minsk courthouse on May 30 to demonstrate solidarity with five 
Malady Front leaders who face up to two years in prison for running 
their unregistered pro-democracy youth organization.  Among the 
opposition leaders who signed the statement were de facto opposition 
coalition leader Aleksandr Milinkevich, former Head of State 
Stanislav Shushkevich, Belarusian Popular Front Chair Vintsuk 
Vyachorka, United Civic Party Chair Anatoliy Lebedko, Belarusian 
Party of Communists Chair Sergey Kalyakin, and Belarusian Social 
Democratic Party "Gramada" Acting Chair Anatoliy Levkovich. 
 
¶4.  Opposition Seeks Legal Action against Pro-GOB Rally 
 
On May 15, opposition activist Sergey Semyonov petitioned the 
Prosecutor's Office in Gomel to punish City Executive Committee 
officials for allowing pro-government Belarusian Republican Youth 
Union (BRYU) activists to stage a May 7 rally near a local school. 
According to Semyonov, the authorities had no right to permit the 
protest because the square in front of a deaf people society's 
headquarters is the only venue in the city where demonstrations are 
allowed.  Semyonov explained that pro-democratic activists were 
denied permission to hold mass events during the Chernobyl 
anniversary even at the officially designated venue.  He observed, 
"BRYU activists stage their rallies at any place they like.  I want 
laws to be observed in our country and the city executive committee 
to abide by its own decisions."  The BRYU rally protested the 
relocation of a Red Army memorial in Estonia. 
 
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 
----------------------- 
 
¶5.  Vietnam's Public Security Ministry Visits Belarus 
 
On May 12-18, a delegation from Vietnam's Ministry of Public 
Security visited Minsk to sign a cooperation protocol between 
Belarus' Interior Ministry Academy and the Vietnamese People's 
Police Academy and discuss the details of a visit to Minsk by 
Vietnamese Public Security Minister Le Hong Anh later this year. 
During the visit, the Vietnamese delegation reportedly expressed 
 
MINSK 00000412  002 OF 003 
 
 
interest in possible purchases of law-enforcement products made in 
Belarus.  Belarusian Interior Minister Vladimir Naumov visited 
Vietnam in January. 
 
¶6.  GOB Seeks Extension of Trans-European Corridor to Minsk 
 
On May 12, independent media reported an appeal by Belarus' Ministry 
of Transportation to the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) 
to support Belarus' proposal to extend one of the 10 pan-European 
transport corridors, Corridor V, to Minsk.  The extension of the 
corridor, which currently runs from Lisbon to Kyiv, would facilitate 
the transportation of goods and passengers from the Russian 
Federation to Slovakia, Hungary, Western Ukraine and the Balkans and 
the integration of three other corridors into a single transport 
network.  The GOB reportedly delivered the appeal at the 60th 
session of the UNECE in Geneva in late April.  During the session, 
Belarusian Transport Minister Vladimir Sosnovskiy discussed EU visa 
restrictions on Belarusian drivers with the International Road 
Transport Union.  The GOB has criticized such restrictions as 
anti-competitive. 
 
INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND INVESTMENT 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶7.  Belarus Lags Far Behind GOB Foreign Trade Targets 
 
On May 11, President Lukashenko criticized his cabinet for a USD 547 
million foreign trade deficit in January-March instead of a planned 
USD 500-600 million surplus.  Belarus' exports in the first quarter 
grew 7.5 percent versus a planned 13-14 percent and imports grew 20 
percent versus the projected 8-9 percent.  Deputy Prime Minister 
Sidorskiy said Belarus would produce more household appliances, 
pharmaceuticals, and detergents that account for a large portion of 
Belarus' imports.  Last year Belarus produced USD 664 million worth 
of such products. 
 
¶8.  GOB Official Calls for Import Duty on Canned Food 
 
On May 15, Belarusian State Food Industry Concern (Belpishcheprom) 
Anatoliy Filonov proposed imposing a seasonal import duty on canned 
fruit and vegetables as a protectionist measure.  Expressing 
dissatisfaction with the ongoing modernization of Belarus' 
canneries, Filonov noted that imported products accounted for more 
than half of all canned fruit and vegetables consumed in Belarus and 
that Belarusian canneries' inventories currently amount to 400 
percent of their overall monthly output.  According to 
Belpishcheprom, 59 Belarusian canning companies produced more than 
47 million cans of food January through March, a 4.5-percent output 
increase compared with the same period of the previous year.  The 
industry reported an average profitability rate of three percent in 
the first quarter, with 17 canneries posting net losses. 
 
DOMESTIC ECONOMY 
---------------- 
 
¶9.  Consumer Prices Up 2.8 Percent 
 
According to Belarus' Statistics Ministry, the consumer price index 
(CPI) was up 2.8 percent in January-April 2007, versus a 2.5 percent 
increase in the same months in 2006.  April's CPI was down 0.2 
percent, primarily due to a 2.2 percent decrease in prices on 
consumer services from March.  Belarus' government expects CPI to 
grow 6-8 percent in 2007.  The numbers were 6.6 percent in 2006 and 
8 percent in 2006.  Independent observers claim CPI calculations in 
Belarus are not fair, since they reflect price dynamics of only a 
very limited number of goods. 
 
¶10.  Crude Oil Refining Down 4.3 Percent 
 
According to Belarus' Statistics Ministry, crude oil processing at 
Belarus' two oil refineries during January-April declined 4.3 
percent on the year to 6.9 million tons.  Belarus plans to process 
21.5 million tons in 2007. 
 
¶11.  Industrial Output Up 13.1 Percent 
 
On May 16, First Deputy Industry Minister Ivan Dzemidovich reported 
that Belarus' industrial output in the first four months of 2007 
increased by 13.1 percent year-on-year while the export of 
industrial products rose by 38 percent.  According to Dzemidovich, 
fixed capital expenditures of enterprises under the control of the 
Industry Ministry totaled USD 163.2 million from January to May, 
which was almost two times more than in the same period of 2006. 
 
¶12.  Automobile Fuel Prices Jump Five Percent 
 
On May 14, the GOB-owned oil and chemical products company 
Belneftekhim introduced a five-percent increase in the price of 
automobile fuel, the second price hike this year.  In both 
instances, Belneftekhim attributed the rise to higher export duties 
on crude oil introduced by Russia early this year.  The price of 
 
MINSK 00000412  003 OF 003 
 
 
95-octane gasoline edged up from USD 3.70 to USD 3.88 per gallon. 
 
QUOTE OF THE WEEK 
----------------- 
 
¶13.  On May 15, Ruslan Primak, the deputy director of the Vitsba-3 
prison, offered this boast regarding his most famous inmate, former 
opposition presidential candidate Aleksandr Kozulin (who is serving 
five and a half years on politically motivated charges of 
hooliganism): 
 
"Over the past two months Kozulin had no violations of correctional 
facility regulations.  The prisoner's adaptation period is 
complete." 
 
MOORE