Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko has instructed to step up work of the country’s permanent mission to the United Nations Organization, BelTA learned from Permanent Representative of Belarus to the United Nations Organization Valentin Rybakov after the official delivered his report to the head of state.
Valentin Rybakov said: “The president gave a number of instructions to step up work of our permanent representation in the UN with UN member states. We will continue doing it. There are a number of avenues where we very successfully work. Some of the avenues were born after speeches by Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko. In particular, the matter of fighting trafficking in persons, some other matters. This is why we will continue working actively, cooperating with countries, and promoting our national interests.”
He said that the United Nations Organization is first and foremost 193 countries, including Belarus, not the secretary general, the UN Secretariat, and international functionaries. “The people I’ve listed enable the work of the organization’s member states,” Valentin Rybakov noted. “We [the general public] very often confuse things and for some reason believe that the United Nations Organization is some menacing structure, a building somewhere in the center of Manhattan on the bank of the East River.”
Valentin Rybakov reminded that Belarus was one of the 50 countries that founded the United Nations Organization and the organization has been criticized actually since its establishment.
“And there are things worth criticizing it for. Bureaucracy, slow decision-making, some other things, excessive politicization. What the president mentioned during today’s meeting: personnel of the UN Secretariat, who are supposed to be impartial and favor no side, now engage in politicking in certain conflict situations and do favor sides,” he said. “We work with member states. It is our main task. We have certain accomplishments, failures, and difficulties, against which we heroically fight. It is a unique international platform. It is unique because it is the only platform where virtually all the countries in the world are represented. And this is why the organization is valuable.”
Belarus’ representative to the UN explained that the UN’s international functionaries cannot dictate anything to anyone as far as the agenda is concerned. The agenda consists of the matters that are submitted for consideration of the UN General Assembly or the UN Security Council by countries themselves. For instance, the UN General Assembly has considered matters brought up by Belarus. Those are fight against trafficking in persons, cooperation in Chernobyl-related affairs, sustainable development of medium-income countries, protection of interests of the traditional family, and some other things.
The UN Security Council operates in the same manner. “Any state or a group of states can submit a matter for consideration of the Security Council. And the matter is considered then. Taking into account the situation around Belarus, it is very important to keep some negative things for us from becoming an item on the agenda of the UN Security Council or the UN General Assembly. So, we successfully counteract this negative scenario where we have to,” Valentin Rybakov noted.
One of the little victories secured by Belarusian diplomats is ending discussions about the Ryanair Flight 4978 incident in the UN Security Council. “We have closed the topic of the Ryanair incident virtually with one our speech in the Security Council. Our speech completely closed this chapter. The Security Council has never discussed the matter since,” Valentin Rybakov said.
Valentin Rybakov told reporters about another diplomatic victory secured by Belarus in the United Nations Organization.
Valentin Rybakov said: “This year we were supposed to present a draft resolution on Chernobyl-related cooperation. Understanding the regional situation, we refused to do it. We understood that our draft could have been amended by other countries. They have the full right to do it. They could have added things that we absolutely don’t condone. And then we would have been in a situation where we would have to submit the document and do something with it afterwards – revoke it, counteract all these negative aspects. We didn’t submit the draft resolution.”
In his words, then Ukraine submitted a draft resolution on Chernobyl-related cooperation. “They virtually stole the complete text of the previous resolution, the previous draft from us,” Valentin Rybakov said.
“But to the surprise of Ukraine and European countries (the situation shocked them) Belarus and Russia acted as coauthors. Russia acted as a coauthor of the Ukrainian resolution. We even got calls from European colleagues, who wondered whether we had made a mistake and whether we actually understood what we were doing by coauthoring a resolution submitted by Ukraine. Yes, we do understand. It is a normal resolution. The text is good. We are satisfied with it. Why not? Chernobyl-related cooperation is a sacred thing for us,” Belarus’ representative to the UN said.
Valentin Rybakov pointed out that these seemingly small victories are not that easy to secure and they are very beneficial for the country. “We will continue this work,” the diplomat assured.
Answer:
Dear Shivendu Paul and Metali Listeners' Club,
dthank you for your comment! We'll send you some of our souvenirs ASAP.
Stay tuned and 73,
RBI
Hallo Radio Belarus,
ja der Dieter Leupold ist jetzt auch hier im Gästebuch vertreten... Super, bald sind wir alle zusammen hier im "Belarus Hörerclub", Dieter könnte 1.Vorsitzender werden und Jana und Elena Ehrernmitglieder, Helmut Matt Schriftführer, Alfred Albrecht Beisitzer und ich mache Hausmeister:-) Lutz Winkler wie fit bist Du bereits wieder, für Dich finden wir auch eine nette Aufgabe:-) Beste Grüße und ein schönes Wochenende.
Dietmar
Answer:
Lieber Dietmar,
das stimmt, für alle finden wir im Hörerklub eine Aufgabe!:)
Liebe Grüße und einen guten Start in die Woche!
I recently learned my surname is not Polish, but Belarusian. I heard you on shortwave in the past and am so happy to listen online in English. We hear nothing about Belarus here in the US so I am so glad to learn about your country. Keep on broadcasting in English. I also joined the Hoererklub on Facebook as I can understand German. If you have information or a station pennant, I will very much appreciate it.
Sheryl Paszkiewicz, 1015 Green St, Manitowoc WI 54220 USA
Answer:
Dear Sheryl, thank you very much for listening to us! We'll send you some of our souvenirs as soon as we can. By the way, if you're interested, you can participate in our "The Old Country's Loving Call" project and send a greeting to Belarus. You can find more detailed information at http://www.radiobelarus.by/en/content/hukaje_eng
Also, in case you like sports, here's the link to an international competition of ours "My Greetings to 2nd European Games" http://www.radiobelarus.by/en/content/games_eng
73 from the entire staff of RBI! Прывiтанне з Малой Радiзмы :)
Hello from Birmingham United Kingdom!
My name is Michael.
I really enjoyed listening to your program on the Hotbird satellite 13e. I very much love listening to your news and current affairs.
Ask you to send me a small gifts. I hope you guys are all good.
Lots of love from UK
Especially enjoying learning about Belarus. History and culture
Michael Rogers
Flat 2 463 City road Birmingham
B17 8LG
United Kingdom
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Michael,
thank you very much for listening to us! We're glad that you enjoy our programs. We'll send you some of our souvenirs as soon as we can. Best regards and stay tuned!
Hello. I am a new listener to your English service. I listen on the Radio 1 News app. I enjoyed listening to the news. Do you have any information on shortwave broadcasts you can send me?
Thank you,
Joe Cosimo
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Dear Joe, thank you for listening to Radio Belarus International! We're glad that you enjoyed our news. RBI broadcasts on shortwave only in German on 6005 and 3985 kHz. News and programs in English are available via our website and satellites. We'll also send you a postcard and a small souvenir as soon as we can. 73!
Hello,
My name is Younes Lazazi, I am from Algeria.
I am very happy that radio Belarus has started broadcasting in Arabic.
I would like to receive stickers and printed matter of the station and the Arabic and french services if possible.
My address:
Monsieur Younes Lazazi 14 rue Maza Boualem El-Harrach 16009 Alger Algérie
Thank you.
Answer:
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we're happy that you like our boradcasts. We'll send you some of our printed materials via mail in the nearest future. 73!
Dear English Service Radio Belarus,
Greetings to all staff and listeners of English Service of Radio Belarus. We listen your webcast program. Your program quality is very nice. Your website is colorful & documented. We liked your programs, News, and Current Affairs Program. We are interested about Culture, life style of Belarusian people, historical places, Tourist attraction and destination of Belarus.
Please send some program schedule, sticker, view card, Promotional items of Radio Belarus for our club members and students.
We are waiting for your reply.
With best wishes,
SHIVENDU PAUL
President
Metali Listeners' Club
India
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thank you very much for listening to us! Your club is among our most dedicated listeners. We will send you some of our promotional products as soon as possible. 73!
Hello!
Did the arabic programmes start? I don't see them on your Internetcast schedule page. Thanks!
Answer:
Hello! The Arabic programmes have been on air since October, every Monday. You can see the schedule and listen to them on our Arabic page http://radiobelarus.by/ar
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