BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

02/10/2007

Popov elected Belarusian lower house speaker

MINSK, October 2 (Itar-Tass) -- Vladimir Popov was elected as the Speaker of the Belarusian National Assembly's House of Representatives. President Alexander Lukashenko congratulated him on the election.

The election of the new house speaker was the key item of the first day of the Belarusian parliament's autumnal session, as the previous speaker, Vladimir Konoplyov, stepped down for health reasons in September.

Popov, 67, was in charge of the Permanent Commission for International Affairs and Relations with the CIS. He chaired the house of the previous Belarusian parliament.

International contacts are an important area, Popov told the house. "Major positive changes have occurred, but there are unsettled problems, as well. An attempt to apply double standards to the Belarusian economy and parliamentarians is a source of serious concern," he said.

The multi-vector policy of Belarus has brought economic results and enlarged trade with the European Union, Popov remarked.

The main subject of the autumnal session is the budget 2008. "We adhere to the stronger social component in the budgetary policy," Vice-Speaker Sergei Zabolotets said.

Source:

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=11926688&PageNum=0