Events

MINSK, 22 April (BelTA) - The Administrator of the UN Development Program, UN Under-Secretary-General Helen Clark will arrive in Minsk on a visit on 24 April, UNDP Resident Representative in Belarus Sanaka Samarasinha told reporters, BelTA has learned.

The program of the visit is very busy. It includes high-level meetings, participation in the international conference dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, and other activities. The conference titled as Thirty Years After Chernobyl. From Emergency to Revival and Sustainable Socio-Economic Development of Affected Territories has been organized by the Belarusian Government and the UN Development Program. It will be held in the Palace of the Republic on 25 April and will be attended by representatives of the government, the state administration bodies, the Belarusian public and also foreign partners of Belarus.

Ms Helen Clark also holds the post of coordinator of international cooperation on Chernobyl, Sanaka Samarasinha noted. She is also expected to make a report at the conference. The event will be attended by Ms Cihan Sultanoglu, the Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations; Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (RBEC) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Ms Helen Clark is scheduled to take part in a ceremony to unveil a commemorative plaque on secondary school No. 130 in Minsk for Ruth Waller who worked for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) in Belarus in 1946.

On 24 April UNDP Assistant Administrator Cihan Sultanoglu will attend a ceremony to unveil a memorial sign to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War and the founding of the United Nations Organization in the Loshitsa Park in Minsk. The ceremony will take place near the Tree of Peace and Sustainable Development planted in October 2015.

As was reported, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko awarded the Francysk Skaryna Order to Ms Helen Clark, the Administrator of the UN Development Program, and Ms Cihan Sultanoglu, the Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations; Assistant Administrator and Director of the UNDP Regional Bureau for Europe and the CIS. The UN high officials have been honored with the award for their significant personal contribution to the development of cooperation between the Republic of Belarus and the United Nations to ensure comprehensive rehabilitation and sustainable development of the regions affected by the Chernobyl disaster.