UNFPA to assign $800,000 to Belarus for census

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) will assign $800,000 to help Belarus conduct a census, the chief of the international organisations department of the Foreign Ministry of Belarus, Vasily Kurlovich, told reporters on May 21. According to him, the most efficient projects in the future will be the UNDP projects involving Belarus. “In the near future Belarus will become a UNDP donor-country. Therefore, most promising will be those projects which involve several countries, i.e. the projects which are of regional and global importance,” he said. According to the advisor of the UN representative in Belarus, Vladimir Scherbov, the UNDP annually allocates around $2 million to Belarus and also provides financial assistance for certain projects. For example, last year the UNDP allotted $15 million for such projects. “However, the assistance of the Untied Nations is not all about finance. This is also analysis, consultations, exchange of experience,” Vladimir Scherbov said. According to him, for Belarusian scientists the Unites Nations is a communication platform with foriegn colleagues, what makes it possible to establish an effective information exchange. The UNDP arrived in Belarus in 1992. Today the UNDP in Belarus focuses on such areas as assistance to entrepreneurship, help in the issues of governance, ecology and environmental safety and also healthcare where the UN/UNDP have been carrying our two large anti- Aids and-TB projects. According to the UN classification, Belarus has the highest human development index among the CIS countries.