President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko signed a decree declaring 2021 the Year of National Unity
In accordance with the decree, the Council of Ministers, together with the regional executive committees and the Minsk City Executive Committee, must develop and approve a republican plan of measures for holding the Year of National Unity, as well as ensure the coordination of activities of state bodies and other organizations for the implementation of this plan.
As reported, the President proposed to make 2021 the Year of National Unity during his New Year's address to the Belarusian people. Alexander Lukashenko noted that some, having faced the challenges of 2020, began to talk about the desire to return to Belarus as it was a year earlier. "I am, of course, glad that you have appreciated what has been achieved, but we will not return to the past. We have no time to go backward and retrace our steps. We will definitely create a Belarus of the future, and it will be better than the current one. To do this, we just need to send 2020 into history. But not forget its lessons," the Belarusian leader is convinced.
"All of us, who see the world differently, should realize that we have a common value – a piece of land in the center of Europe. There is no other. And in order to preserve it for our children, let's turn the page of the past and together write a new chapter of independent Belarus. Let's make the coming year the year of national unity," the President said. "Let's live by our own minds, create values with our own hands. Let's protect, cherish, and love as only Belarusians can – an intelligent, tolerant, future-oriented nation! And if we want to be called 'people' ('lyud'mi zvat'sia'), we will do it!"