Belarus, Russia to devise new cooperation program on Chernobyl

GOMEL, 12 April (BelTA) – Belarus and Russia will develop a new cooperation program on Chernobyl by the end of the year, Deputy State Secretary of the Union State Ivan Bambiza told reporters in Gomel on 12 April. He took part in the international scientific and practical conference ““Chernobyl, 25 Years On. Mitigation of its Impact in the Union State”, BelTA has learned. “There is a clear instruction from heads of government of Belarus and Russia to develop this program. The new concept of the cooperation program will be designed for five years. Its primary objective is to stabilize the situation in contaminated regions and provide specialized medical assistance to everyone who needs it,” Ivan Bambiza said. He also stressed that since the Union State was established the Chernobyl disaster has become one of the main issues on the agenda for both countries. “In order to implement joint projects the Supreme State Council of the Union State and the governments of both countries signed a set of documents. Since then we have been successfully implementing joint programs on Chernobyl. And the work performed by specialists and scientists from Belarus and Russia gives positive results,” Ivan Bambiza said. According to him, the countries’ goal is to ensure sustainable development of polluted territories, provide specialized medical assistance to people. Moreover, Belarus has already created the necessary infrastructure. The international scientific and practical conference is held in Gomel on 12-13 April, on 14-15 April it will open in Bryansk. The conference focuses on the radiation protection of people, rehabilitation and social and economic development of the affected regions in a long-term perspective, joint activities of Belarus and Russia to mitigate the Chernobyl impact in the Union State. The participants of the conference will also work out a strategy and define priority areas of cooperation between Belarus and Russia within the Union State to mitigate Chernobyl impact. There are plans to host a meeting dedicated to the problems of radiation protection, agricultural radiology, radioecology and rehabilitation of affected territories. Another meeting will focus on medical and biological problems of life in radiation-affected regions. Partaking in the conference are representatives of the Belarusian and Russian Emergencies Ministries, the Chernobyl Department of the Belarusian Emergencies Ministry, the Department of Social Policy and Information Support of the Union State Permanent Committee, and other organizations.

БЕЛТА