Valentina Talyzina was in an excellent mood, despite the early hour. "I sincerely love Belarus and gladly accepted the invitation to come to the festival. It is always a pleasure to be here. Vitebsk is the birthplace of Chagall, and in general, 'Vi-tebsk' sounds beautiful," said the People's Artist of the RSFSR to a BELTA correspondent.

Numerous events dedicated to the 95th anniversary of the birth of Pyotr Mironovich Masherov will be held these days in all regions of the oblast.

Over seven months, state targeted social assistance has been granted to more than 8.6 thousand citizens for Br3.3 billion, including assistance for the purchase of clothing, footwear, and school supplies provided to over 2.3 thousand low-income families (among them over 1 thousand large families) for over Br1.2 billion. Approximately 6.5 thousand children aged one to two years have been provided with free food products, with Br6.2 billion allocated for these purposes. Financial assistance to severely needy non-working pensioners and disabled individuals from the funds of the Social Protection Population Fund of the Ministry of Labour has been provided to about 4.5 thousand citizens for a total of approximately Br0.6 billion. In addition, assistance is provided to war veterans, family members of deceased servicemen, and non-working single elderly citizens for the repair of apartments, houses, stoves, electrical wiring, installation of electrical and gas equipment, and plumbing, as well as for the installation of autonomous fire alarms. Over seven months, such assistance has been provided to almost 1.8 thousand residents of the region for Br180 million.

The Republican final of the inter-university competition "Queen Spring of Belarus – 2013" was held at the National Library. The royal throne of charm and beauty went to Daria Shmanai, a student of the Belarusian State Economic University. "

"An exceptional feature of this festival is its traditionality – it is being held for the twentieth time. Representatives of different nationalities gather here and demonstrate the best their culture is rich in – on stage, in theatrical art, and cinema," the minister said. At the same time, in his opinion, the international forum should evolve, develop, and seek new forms and approaches in its organization and conduct.

Polotsk is the cradle of Belarusian statehood. It is called the "father of Belarusian cities," which laid the foundation for the creation of Belarusian statehood, the unity of political, economic, and ethnic structures. The prototype of the Belarusian nation was born here.

In fulfillment of the instructions of the head of state, given on August 21 during a visit to the agro-industrial complexes "Dzerzhinsky" and "Zdanovichi", all farms in the Vitebsk region planned for reconstruction in 2012 will be commissioned with milking parlors and robots. Previously, it was planned to commission only 43 out of 228 farms with milking parlors and robots, then their number increased to 96. The remaining 132 farms were intended to be equipped with milk pipelines. "We need to reconstruct old farms into dairy complexes, a kind of biotechnological complexes with milking parlors, facilities for keeping livestock: from calves to the milking herd," emphasized Alexander Kosinets.

"In the WTO conditions, Belarusian producers will be able to compete only by increasing the volume of agricultural products, reducing costs, and increasing production efficiency. This can be achieved through the modernization of production facilities and the adoption of modern technologies by all agricultural enterprises, adapted in advanced farms in Belarus," the minister emphasized.

New Year's wish trees will help fulfill the dreams of the pupils of the Vitebsk orphanage, Mikhail Gusachenko, chairman of the October district organization of the Vitebsk Belarusian Red Cross Society, told a BELTA correspondent.

The Office of the Commissioner for Religious and National Affairs has summarized the results of the competition "Administrative Region of Belarus - Organization of Compatriots Abroad".

The second stage of monitoring the work of local authorities and organizations with citizens' appeals will take place in the Vitebsk region from November 27 to December 5