BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

28/11/2007

Belarusian President Simplifies Business Licence Process And Orders Upgrade To Belarus's Anti-Aircraft Missile System

President Alyaksandr Lukashenka on November 26 signed a decree reducing the amount of paperwork needed for some businesses to obtain licenses, Belapan reported. The decree prohibits licensing bodies from demanding documents from an applicant that it can independently obtain from state agencies and other organizations. Under the decree, legal entities that have been reorganized are not required to obtain a new license provided that the data in their current license remains correct, and do not need to obtain permission from authorities to have their license extended. The decree authorizes licensing bodies and courts to partially suspend or revoke licenses, so that a company may be barred from performing certain types of business activities mentioned in its license, but not all of them. The decree takes effect on January 1, 2008. AM

President Lukashenka on November 27 ordered that an upgrade to the BUK surface-to-air medium-range missile system should be completed next year, Belapan reported. Lukashenka met the same day with senior officials of the military and industrial committee and the Security Council. "The upgrade of modern weapons remains a major [priority] in the enhancement of Belarus's defense capacity," Lukashenka said. "To keep up with the times, we have two paths -- buying state-of-the-art weapons abroad and modernizing those modern weapons that we have. We have chosen a third path: we buy what we can, but also aim to modernize systems by our own means," he said. Pyotr Rahazheuski, the first deputy chairman of the military and industrial committee, said that Belarusian experts will cooperate with Russian companies on some aspects of modernization, adding that the upgrade task is particularly challenging because some components are no longer produced. AM

Source:

http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2007/11/3-cee/cee-281107.asp