The Republic of Belarus

Belarus is a small beautiful country, situated in the centre of Europe at the crossing of roads going from east to west and from north to south. Our land has been very attractive geopolitically for many foreign countries. It borders on Russia, the Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania & Latvia. Belarus has the area of 207,000 sq. km and the population of 10 mln. It is just one fifth smaller than Great Britain in size, but it is larger than Denmark, Belgium and Greece taken together. The capital of Belarus is Minsk.

To describe our land one needs to be a poet. If you go north, you will see a land of Braslav lakes with crystal-clear blue waters surrounded by pine groves. If you go west, you will find yourself in the Brest province - the land of immense fields and meadows. In the south you will be engulfed by infinite forests and marshes. Broad plains and marshy lowlands occupy nearly three quarters of the territory. They are called Belarussian Polesye. There are also some hills and elevations. They can be found in the northern and central parts of the country. A third part of Belarus is under the forests. The largest forests are called puschhas. The most famous is Belavezhskaya Puscha. The Byelovezhskaya Puscha is famous for its aurochs. The climate varies from maritime to continental due to a strong influence of the maritime air of the Atlantic. The coldest month is January and the warmest month is July. There are about 3000 rivers, 11000 lakes in Belarus. The largest rivers are the Dnieper, the Western Dvina. the Nieman, and the Bug.

Belarus is divided into 6 regions: Brest, Vitebsk, Gomel, Grodno, Minsk, and Mogilev. The population of Belarus is about 10 million. Belarussians arc 80% of them, while the others are mostly Russians, Poles, Ukrainians and Jews. All these nationalities live here in good neighbourhood and peace because they have something in common: they all love their country, their history, their traditions. People mostly speak Russian here, though the official languages are Belarussian and Russian. 68% of the population live in towns.

Now Belarus has a highly developed industry, agriculture, culture and technology. The mineral resources of the country are: peat, oil, underground fresh and mineral waters, building materials and ores, that can be used for the production of fertilizers. Those raw materials make up practically all of its mineral wealth. Agriculture, manufacturing industry and commerce are the most developed branches of the economy. Agriculture fully satisfies the need of the country for basic agricultural products, such as milk, meat, potatoes, vegetables, fruit and eggs. The most developed branches of manufacturing industry are machine-building, instrument-making, radio-electronics, wood-working, oil-refining and a number of chemical, light, construction and food industries. Belarus imports oil, gas, coal, metal, chemicals and cotton. Together with grain, sugar, vegetable oil, fish products, tea, coffee and wine they are the main items of Belarussian imports. Our country exports heavy lorries, tractors, motorcycles, bicycles, TV and radio-sets, data processing equipment and gas stoves, refrigerators and furniture, carpets and knitted goods, chemical fibres and fertilizers, agricultural products. Belarus has good trade relations with Russia, the LTcraine, Bulgaria, Austria, Germany and Poland. The country is connected with its neighbours by its wide network of rail-, high- and waterways, not to mention air routes.

Belarus is a presidential republic. In 1991 Belarus became an independent state with its own government, constitution, state emblem and flag. A state flag has 2 horizontal stripes. The upper stripe is of red colour, the lower one is green. There is also a vertical national red ornament against the white background. The red colour of the flag symbolizes the sun, without which our life on the Earth is impossible. The ancient associated red colour with beauty. The tradition to use green colour has its deep roots. It's a symbol of our land full of green woods and meadows. It is the colour of life and nature. The white colour of the national ornament’s background is a symbol of purity and freedom. It reflects the name of our country “Belarus” that means “White Rus”.

The highest executive power is vested in a President elected for a five-year term. The Parliament - National Assembly is a representative and legislative body of the Republic of Belarus. The Parliament consists of two chambers: the House of Representatives and the Soviet of the Republic. The executive power is performed by a Council of Ministers headed by a premier. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President. Officially it is called the Republic of Belarus. It is a member-state of the Commonwealth of Independent States and it also performs the duties of a member of the United Nation Organization. Belarus participates in the work of more than 70 international organizations of UN system on problems of political, economic, scientific, social life, human rights. Belarus takes an active part in the life of the world Community and stands for the international cooperation. Our country uses every opportunity to tell the people of the world about the disaster that Chernobyl brought to our people.

The history of Belarus is full of dramatic events and great losses. Belarus is the country with the heroic past and difficult present. The territory of present day Belarus was first populated by Slavic tribes - Krivitchi and Radimichi. Later the tribes began to unite into a state Kievan Rus - the home of 3 fraternal peoples - the Russians, the Ukrainians and the Belarussian. According to the historical documents the Belarussian nation was formed in the 14-16^th centuries. In the 18^th century Belarus was annexed by Russia.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14