OREANDA-NEWS. On August 09, 2007 a government programme of development of the mineral and resource base of Belarus has been prepared, the Prime Minister of Belarus, Sergei Sidorsky, reported to the President of the Republic of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, reported the Presidential website http://president.gov.by.

Specifically, the Government submitted to the Head of State a promising and innovative project of using the national deposits of brown coal for producing energy. The recently finished prospecting activities have showed that this country’s total brown coal deposits amount to 150 million tons, the Prime Minister said. Based on this information, a project for the Belarusian mining and chemical industry has been prepared, which envisages converting brown coal into hydro-carbon fuel by means of synthesis. Experts say that, given the afore-mentioned amount of resources, it is possible to produce up to 500 thousand tons of fuel per annum.

“This is a very high-tech project, which has but a few analogues in the world,” Sergei Sidorsky said. The Government of Belarus is now busy looking for investors for this project, which is expected to cost more than $2 billion.

The Prime Minister has also reported to the President on the projects of development of iron and shale ore deposits. The Head of State has approved the three afore-mentioned projects, which are to be implemented in the next few years.

The provision of pensions for the citizens, including an increase in pensions, was another topic of the meeting.

As of the beginning of August this year, an average pension in Belarus was $136, the Prime Minister said. According to statistics, in Russia this figure was $131 and in Ukraine - $110. The Government put forward a proposal to the President to increase pensions in November-December this year. However, the President rejected the proposal and tasked the Government to hold the indexation of pensions in September and maybe in November.

In the next three days, the Council of Ministers will prepare a draft Presidential Decree envisaging at least a 7 percent increase in pensions.

Discussing the progress in implementing the energy saving programme, the President and the Prime Minister paid special attention to the housing, communal and agricultural sectors.

The reforming of agricultural enterprises will be carried out by means of state support. The level of support for the enterprises that were receiving it in the previous years should remain the same. At the same time, agricultural enterprises should themselves cope with the task of shifting to local fuels as fuel alternatives. This concerns, first of all, poultry and cattle-breeding complexes. The support from the state will be channelled into the projects with a high self-repayment rate.

The President has tasked the Government to complete the work aimed at shifting grain-drying facilities to local fuels as fuel alternatives. As many farms as possible should run on local fuels. As a whole, energy-saving issues should remain of priority importance for agricultural enterprises, the Head of State said.

Another topic of the meeting was the preparation of the housing and communal sector for the housing heating period. The Prime Minister has reported to the Head of State that the Government is now monitoring the progress in repairing and adjusting the heating and social amenities networks. According to Sergei Sidorsky, there are no doubts that the housing sector of Belarus and this country’s economic entities will be fully and timely prepared for the upcoming housing heating period.