Events

Mikhail Myasnikovich remarked that members of the upper chamber of the Belarusian parliament will have to accomplish very important tasks. “In order to move the national economy to a new growth trajectory, it is necessary to remove the barriers that stand in the way of entrepreneurial activity of citizens. It is necessary to improve competition mechanisms, increase the inflow of investments and protect them. It is necessary to diversify export,” stressed the Speaker of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly.

Mikhail Myasnikovich encouraged senators to pay close attention to resolving problems in education, healthcare, housing policy, and ecology. Matters directly relating to living standards of the nation were discussed during the fifth Belarusian People’s Congress. “People and their problems were always high on the agenda. All our efforts should be guided by that. It is what we work for,” said Mikhail Myasnikovich.

The first session of the first-convocation Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus opened on 13 January 1997. Since then Belarusian senators have reviewed and passed 2,255 bills. Every convocation was unique. The first convocation worked hard to develop legal codes, contributing to the inventorying of Belarusian legislation. In the first four years of lawmaking efforts 18 codes were passed to become the foundation for the consequent evolution of Belarusian legislation. Members of the second-convocation Council of the Republic ratified the Eurasian Economic Community Foundation Treaty and approved the Investment Code. The third-convocation Council of the Republic took care of municipal self-government bodies. In that period the upper chamber of the Belarusian parliament started working more dynamically as a territorial representation body. The fourth-convocation Council of the Republic adopted the Education Code and passed the law on youth policy basics. The fifth-convocation Council of the Republic ratified the Eurasian Economic Union Treaty.

A number of previous heads of the upper chamber of the Belarusian parliament turned up for the celebratory session on 29 December. Among them were Boris Batura, Anatoly Rubinov, Mikhail Matusevich, Leonid Krupets, and Anatoly Rusetsky, who used to work as a vice speaker. During the session a number of employees of the Council of the Republic secretariat were lauded for many years of dedicated work. The meeting ended with a concert by the Belarusian State Music Academy.