Part 1. National and Homeland Security

Part 2. Acceleration and Quality

Part 3. Revival of Rural Areas

Part 4. Discipline and Good Organization

Part 5. Worthy Living Conditions

Part 6. Intellectual and Physical Development

Part 7. On the Belarusian Parliament

Concluding Remarks

Part 1. National and Homeland Security

Esteemed Chairmen of the National Assembly Houses,

Esteemed Deputies of the House of Representatives,

Esteemed Members of the Council of the Republic,

I regard the annual State of the Nation Address by the Head of the State to the Parliament and the Belarusian people as a major component of the political tradition which is taking shape in our young state. Its purpose is in realizing what has been done and what is happening in our country and the entire world. It also includes a prognosis of what is going to happen and identifies our country's main objectives.

I think it would be right to begin this Address with an evaluation of the position of Belarus within the general system of international relations.

National and Homeland Security

Time has proved the accuracy of the prognoses in the past year's Address concerning development of the basic global trends. Combating terrorism continues to be a dominant problem in international relations.

There is no doubt that terrorism is a challenge to the modern world and it poses a threat to all the peoples, including the Belarusian people.

Only by the united efforts of the states can one counteract this threat efficiently. Belarus is a highly responsible player within the common antiterrorist system. Our law enforcing agencies have been actively and constructively cooperating with the relevant structures of the foreign countries in protecting people's lives and health from terrorist acts. The world community can, as before, rely on Belarus as a reliable partner in combating this extremely dangerous threat.

Regrettably, we have to acknowledge that over the past year the world was not able to move forward in resolving this problem.

This is due to several reasons. The most important one is that the fight mainly targets the sources of terrorism, rather than its separate manifestations. Therefore, there's nothing to be surprised at when one captured terrorist is replaced by two new ones: the conditions that generate terrorism (poverty, destitution, oppression) are not eliminated but to the contrary, they are becoming increasingly exacerbated.

…The intrusion into Iraq has not made the world safer and more predictable. Even the USA's closest supporters and allies have remained disunited over the issue…

(See Russian version of the site for the full text of the Address)