On 17 October 2016, new macroeconomic data from Belstat, Belarus's national statistical committee, indicated that this year's economic decline seems to have finally halted. The GDP stopped falling and foreign trade saw a slight revival. However, on 21 September the...
On 12 October 2016 Belarus announced its intention to adopt a national action plan for a green economy. This September the country also ratified the Paris Climate Change Agreement. What's more, the European Union has invested over €10m in...
On 14 September 2016 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashka announced that negotiations on oil and gas relations between the Belarusian authorities and Russia's main economic players had failed. Meanwhile, the oil crisis has cast further uncertainty on...
On 7 September 2016 BEROC (Belarusian Economic Research and Outreach Center) held a seminar on private sector development in Belarus featuring presentations and debates from experts. Peter Arushanyants, Director of the Department of Entrepreneurship at the Ministry of Economy of...
Оn 20 July 2016 Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenka approved the final version of the new Military Doctrine of Belarus. The previous version had been adopted in 2002 and has obviously outlived its usefulness in light of the dramatic changes...
On 20 July 2016 at 7:45 am a bomb went off in a car in Kiev. The explosion killed Pavel Sheremet, a prominent Belarusian journalist working in Ukraine. Pavel was 44 years old and was killed in a car of...
On 29 March 2016 Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov proclaimed the government's intention to speed up the long-awaited process of joining the WTO. Moreover, after renegotiating different scenarios for pension reform in Belarus, the authorities have agreed to an increase in...
The organisers of the Minsk Dialogue conference in Minsk (Liberal Club and the Ostrogorski Centre) released the non-paper timed for the Riga Eastern Partnership Summit which will take place in Riga on 21-22 May 2015. The non-paper results from...
The most well-known international indexes show that Belarus is maintaining the potential of its people, although its governance, economy, political and economic freedoms remain at a very low level. Belarus has had a rather good showing in the UNDP Human...
Establishing oneself as a foreigner in a new city can be a challenge, not only because of cultural and linguistic barriers, but also due to social norms. It’s often easier to meet and befriend fellow expatriates or members of the...
In response to the country's unprecedented reforms, the European Commission has recently proposed to reinstate EU's preferential trade for Myanmar. When this happens, Belarus will remain the only country deprived of EU trade preferences system because of labour rights violations. With...
Belarusians win at international courts and get asylum in democratic states, but they continue to feel insecure afterwards and still remain in the Interpol database. The recent arrest of a Belarusian on Interpol’s wanted list, Igor Koktysh, by German police...
Topics ranging from Belarus travel topics for foreigners to economic sanctions and the Orthodox Church in Belarus drew the attention of Belarus Digest readers in 2012. Here are our top 10 most popular stories. 1. Sex Tours Save The Belarusian Tourist Industry "We...
Some people in Belarus still cling to Lukashenka’s regime ideology as they cannot imagine anything else. Others have a different view of the country’s future but prefer to remain silent and suffer in solitude. There are also those who...
