News & Events in Belarus

BelTA turns 100

MINSK, 21 December (BelTA) - The Belarusian Telegraph Agency BelTA will mark the 100th anniversary on 23 December. Every day the Belarusian news service records the country’s history.

Early in the year the agency released a unique photo album “The Moments of the Century” which was officially presented during the Mass Media in Belarus expo.

Among the big events of the year for the agency was the appointment of new director general. On 5 April the Belarusian president appointed Irina Akulovich director general of the Belarusian Telegraph Agency. She became the first woman in Belarus to lead the country’s largest state-owned? media outlet, and, by the way, the first female director of BelTA. Dmitry Zhuk, who was in charge of BelTA since May 2003, was appointed Chief Editor of the Sovetskaya Belorussiya – Belarus' Segodnya newspaper in February.

For BelTA’s big date, the Communications and Informatization Ministry in cooperation with BelTA published the postage stamp sheet “100 Years of the Belarusian Telegraph Agency BelTA” featuring the logos for BelTA’s 100th anniversary. “BelTA chronicles the past and the present but also looks into the future,” said Deputy Information Minister Pavel Lyogky (currently First Deputy Information Minister during the first-day-of-issue dedication ceremony in April. “Life does not stand still. New technologies emerge, new people come in. But we have our feet firm on the ground as the agency keeps confident pace with the most modern trends,” he said.

The photo exhibition “The Moments of the Century” began its journey around Belarus on 19 June. The exhibition features photographs from BelTA’s archives that made part of the same-name album. The exposition includes about 40 large-format photos depicting landmark events in the history of Belarus since 1918 up to the present day. In every city the exhibition was supplemented with unique archive shots depicting the history of the region. The first exhibition took place in Brest and traveled around the country’s all oblast centers by the end of the year.

The exhibition reached the Russian capital on 12 November. “Back in the Soviet times, the Belarusian Telegraph Agency BelTA always had its own style. It was always known for a very high level of professionalism,” State Secretary of the Belarus-Russia Union State Grigory Rapota said at the opening ceremony of the exhibition in the Business and Cultural Center of the Belarusian Embassy in Russia.

Ahead of this remarkable date for the agency BelTA’s employees?were invited to tour the Palace of Independence, one of Belarus’ national symbols of independence and sovereignty, to learn more about its architecture, interior and decorations. They saw the halls which host the most important events in the country, i.e. working sessions and meetings with high-profile foreign guests, large-scale international summits, including the many-hour Normandy Four talks. The fine work of Belarusian masters who decorated the palace, including paintings, carvings and tapestries, various panels and chandeliers left vivid impressions on the agency’s employees. Of particular interest were the exhibits of the special museum that displays various gifts to the Belarusian president from heads of foreign states and foreign delegations.

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