Regional Workshop on Capacity-Building in Governance and Public Administration for Sustainable Development Thessaloniki, 29-31 July 2002 Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear colleagues, COUNTRY REPORT B E L A R U S by Andrei V. Sonin 1 st Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs We regard it as a truly timely initiative to organize such a workshop, targeting public administrators and NGO representatives in countries with economies in transition, in the run-up to the World Summit on Sustainable Development. As universally acknowledged, those countries encounter specific problems and have special needs in paving the way for transition to sustainable development. Inefficient public administration systems and unsustainable consumption and production patterns inherited from planned economies in the past undermine existing capacities and give birth to the need to set up and strengthen institutional frameworks for sustainable development involving civil society, scientific and business communities. That calls for international co-operation on relevant issues. We hope therefore that this workshop will contribute to fostering a better understanding of challenges and opportunities faced by decision-makers in the area of sustainable development and result in new initiatives aimed at promoting sustainable development at regional and sub-regional levels. Let me now briefly describe the current situation in Belarus from a historical perspective. Belarus economy has long been an integral part of the ex-ussr economic system. Belarus reached the peak of its socio-economic development in the late 1980s, when it became one of the most prosperous and well-to-do republics of the former Soviet Union. Occupying 0.9% of the ex-ussr territory, with 3.6% of its population and 3.4% of fixed assets, Belarus accounted for 4% of the Union's GDP, 4.5% of its industrial output and 5.6% of agricultural output. In 1991 and 1992, Belarus ranked the 40th among 174 countries by its human development index (HDI) and was listed among those with a high HDI ranking. Science and education had reached a high level of advancement. The collapse of the USSR and the severing of established economic ties led to a deep crisis in the economy. The newly independent state of Belarus had inherited an industry that had served it well when it was part of a superpower, but was too complex and burdensome for a medium-sized country. Rising prices of fuel and material inputs increased production costs and made Belarusian goods uncompetitive. Institutional reforms have also been difficult to handle, and attempts to develop financial markets were frustrated by major problems. These problems were
aggravated by the need to create a new legal system and develop new mechanisms and approaches to fiscal, monetary, foreign trade and investment policies. In an effort to bring the country out of crisis, an emergency anti-crisis program was drafted. Through its implementation, the rate of inflation and budget deficit reduced substantially in 1994-1995, the deterioration of popular living standards slowed down, and production decline was halted. At this stage, a new objective emerged - to enable transition from a period of economic decline to stabilization and limited growth. The Republic of Belarus has opted for a socially oriented market economy as its longterm development model. The guiding principles of such an economy include constitutional guarantees of personal rights and liberties, freedom for private initiative, free choice of profession and employer, equality of all ownership types, protection of ownership rights in the interest of the individual and society, a link between the employee's standard of living and his performance on the job, support for the unemployed and other vulnerable groups of society and social partnership between the state, trade unions and employer associations. In August 2000 the Council of Ministers enacted the Key Objectives of Socio- Economic development up until 2010. A Socio-economic Development Programme for 2001-2005 was developed in line with this document in August 2001. The program become an important landmark in the nation s progress towards the ultimate goal of its socio-economic advancement - improving people s health and living standards through balanced and sustainable economic growth, productive employment and higher levels of social support, approaching the international standards. The key objectives set by the Socio-economic Development Programme for 2001-2005 are as follows: to create opportunities for sustainable socio-economic development through greater efficiency and better performance of the manufacturing sector; to increase popular access to goods and services; to develop the industrial and social infrastructure; Belarus macroeconomic policy is different from other countries with economies in transition by a slower pace of privatization, stricter control and administrative functions of the state, the boosting of home demand through loan and money emission. It has allowed creating conditions for a growth of GDP and industrial output, ensuring an increase in people s real incomes and a low unemployment rate, maintaining social stability. In 1996-2001 about 6-7% of GDP (or 16-18% of the budgetary expenditures) was allocated for education, so was 5 % (13-15%) for health and physical culture. In that period science was financed at 0.5% of GDP (or 1.2% of the budgetary expenditures), environmental protection - at 0.6% of GDP. About 40% of the currently used technologies (35% in industries) has been introduced over the last decade, which is attributable to technological changes. At the same time 48% of the technologies in economy (53% in industries) one started to use before 1985. USSR-developed technologies (50%) and Belarus-developed ones are mainly employed. A fraction of foreign technologies is insignificant being 12.5 % in economy and 9% in industries.
The Constitution of Republic of Belarus recognizes the right for a safe environment as one of the inalienable personal rights (Part 1, Art.46). Major national laws on the environment are as follows: 'On Environmental Protection', 'On State Environmental Assessment', 'On Wastes', 'On Sanitary and Epidemiological Well-Being of the Public', 'On Specially Protected Natural Areas and Sites', 'On Protection and Use of Animal Kingdom', 'On Air Protection', 'On Legal Status of Territories Contaminated As a Result of the Chernobyl Disaster', 'On Radiation Safety of the Public', 'On Portable Water Supply', 'On Protection of the Ozone Layer', 'On Environmental Tax'. Belarus is a party to 11 environmental conventions and numerous bilateral agreements. The basic principles and recommendations of Agenda-21 have received widespread recognition in Belarus. In 1997, the government drafted and approved a national sustainable development strategy, which laid out a vision of the country's development, and defined the type of state, society and economy to be built in the future. The strategy reflects the current trends in global social and economic advancement. It recognizes the world's movement towards a post-industrial society, based on new technological patterns and the need to provide opportunities for consistent development and growth of every individual. A future advancement model for Belarus should recognize that every country has its specifics and needs, and follows a unique development path. No state can fully copy the experience of another country, no matter how positive it may have proven to be. Instead, positive elements of such experience can be borrowed that are found to be the most relevant and useful. Now I would like to dwell on some major areas of concern. Poverty Despite measures taken, the poverty situation in Belarus remains difficult. According to official data the poor numbered 4192.1 thousand people in 2000 compared to 3956.6 thousand people in 1996. Thus, their number increased by 6 % in that period. About 80% of the poor are from families with one breadwinner who cannot provide 3-5 persons. It should be however noted that people hide a part of their profits. That is why it is hard to draw a conclusion to what extent these figures are consistent with the real picture. Human Health There have been alarming tendencies in the incidence of socially dangerous diseases such as drug addiction, HIV and tuberculosis. The system for funding health care services is not yet fully adapted to new economic conditions. About 45% of medical establishments are located in converted premises. More than 50% of medical equipment have been in use for over 10 years and are to be rejected owing to their obsolescence and rut-out.
Demographic Situation Since 1995 Belarus' population has been on the decline. It has to do with an unheardof decline in the birth rate that was 8.8 per1000 people in 1997. (8.7 in town; 9,0 in rural areas). The mortality rate reached 14.2 per 1000 people in 1999 with 22.3 in rural areas. The natural loss was 4.1 in 2000 (-0.2 in town, -13,1 in rural areas). Life expectancy has been falling throughout the 1990s. In 1999 alone, it declined by 0.5 years to 67.9 years (62.2 years for men and 73.9 years for women). Its is particularly low (59.6 years) among men in rural areas, where the average man does not live to the age of retirement. Environmental Legislation Many provisions of the environmental legislation remain declarative and do not put in place the institutional mechanisms needed to protect the right of the individual to a safe living environment, full information about the environmental situation, and compensation for health damage. On the other hand, knowledge-based environmental programmes cannot be implemented because of financial and economic instability, high and unpredictable inflation and the budget deficit. One of the most vulnerable sectors is agriculture. The agricultural output and capacity is declining. Price, tax, loan and other financial and economic mechanisms are not always properly regulated. Over 3 million people or 31% of the population live in rural areas. There are 23.4 thousand rural settlements with the majority of their inhabitants involved in agriculture. About 75% of the settlements number less than 100 inhabitants and this proportion is steadily increasing. Since 1996 the number of the rural settlements has dropped by 1.5%. It must be particularly emphasized that our transition to sustainability is complicated by the need to mitigate the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster. 12% of the settlements are in the contaminated areas, where about one fifth of the population lives. I will briefly describe the actions undertaken in Belarus to implement Agenda 21. The National Commission on Sustainable Development was established in 1996. In 1997 the Commission and Council of Ministers adopted the National Strategy for Sustainable Development. It laid out a vision of the country's development, and defined the type of state, society and economy to be built in the future. The strategy reflects the current trends in global social and economic advancement. It recognises the world's movement towards a post-industrial society, based on new technological patterns and the need to provide opportunities for consistent development and growth of every individual.
It accordance with the law On State Planning and Socio-Economic Development Programmes (1998) the National Strategy for 15 years shall be developed every 5 years and, based on it, Key Objectives of Socio-Economic Development for 10 years shall be elaborated. Thus, the National Strategy is a underlying document for all long-, medium- and short term state forecasts and socio-economic development programmes. In April 1997 the International Conference on Sustainable Development of Countries with Economies in Transition took place in Minsk with support of UNDP, UNECE and UNEP. The conference highlighted challenges faced by countries with economies in transition along the way to sustainability. The Conference on Sustainable Human Settlements was held in Minsk in 1998. The energy-saving policy that Belarus has been pursuing over the last years is in line with the need to change unsustainable patterns of production and consumption, and a fraction of local and alternative energy sources has been on the increase. Given local conditions the following is considered as non-conventional energy sources: small hydropower plants, wind power generators, bio-energy facilities, solar water heaters, waste incinerators etc. The impact of energy generating facilities on the environment decreased in 1996-2001 due to the introduction of green technologies and heavier reliance on natural gas instead of fuel oil. The use of water resources has become more rational. The intake of water from natural sources and the use of fresh water for industrial purposes have dropped. There have been positive changes in forestry: the area of forests has considerably increased, which, inter alia, contributes to preserving biodiversity. One of the problems encountered is the fact we have no experience of developing local agendas 21. (The only exception is a town of Turov, where such a program was formulated by enthusiasts from local environmental NGOs.) It has to do with the following reasons: the current National Strategy does not include a mechanism of developing local agendas 21 consistent with the national objectives; while drafting the National Strategy it is hard to take into account local conditions and peculiarities; there are a few local people, who are aware of the concept of sustainable development. A new National Strategy under consideration will envisage steps aimed at promoting local agendas 21. But if we are to succeed in doing so, much more attention should be paid to awareness-raising campaigns. One of the lessons we have learnt is there is a need to establish participatory approaches. Now NGOs are participating in formulating the new National Strategy through a specially established Council, last time they did not.
Any socio-economic development strategy for the 21 st century should consider the special situation of Belarus as a medium-sized open-type economy, domestic growth factors and the effects of globalisation, a process that leads to increasing interdependence of individual countries, emergence of global markets of capital, investments, labour, goods and services, unlimited flow of information, deepening European integration and growth of multinational companies and industrial finance groups. Life has made us understand that the world can not be shaped by a single approach applied generally and indiscriminately to all countries and peoples. Development stems mostly from a broad variety of social, economic and cultural traditions, all of which supplement each other and constitute a common civilisational background. Belarus has opted in favour of sustainable development. We are moving towards the shared ideals of human rights, democracy and a liberal economy, which reflect the wishes of many nations. In doing so, we are not rejecting our past values, but building on them to shape our lives in the modern world. Thank your for your attention.