VITEBSK, 28 March (BelTA) - About 300 people will take part in the first Belarusian-Latvian forum of twin-towns “Prospects of Belarusian-Latvian regional and twin-town cooperation” in Novopolotsk, BelTA learnt form the ideology department of the Novopolotsk town hall. The forum opened on 28 March. Today Novopolotsk will welcome representatives of delegations of the diplomatic missions of Latvia in Belarus, and Belarus in Latvia, mayors of the twin-towns and those who have yet to find a...

VITEBSK, 20 March (BelTA) – The international art festival Slavonic Bazaar in Vitebsk has started signing contracts for the right to use its trademark, BelTA learned from Olga Salnikova, First Deputy Director General of the entertainment center Vitebsk. The logo of the festival is well-recognized: a cornflower against the background of musical staff. The trademark has been registered in Belarus and grants the owner exclusive rights to manage it. Nobody can use it for commercial purposes...

NOVOPOLOTSK, 19 March (BelTA) – The measures laid down by decree No. 136 of 18 March to improve the pension system will bring benefits for retirement age citizens, BelTA learned from Alexander Yakobson, Chairman of the State Control Committee of Belarus. He believes citizens should not worry they will be forced to work past retirement age without applying for a pension. “Everything will be strictly regulated. Citizens will be free to make decisions,” stressed Alexander Yakobson....

VITEBSK, 19 March (BelTA) - Two memorial plaques in honor of two submariners, natives of Vitebsk Oblast - Hero of the Soviet Union Vice Admiral Egor Tomko and Hero of the Soviet Union Captain First Rank Samuil Bogorada were handed over to Vitebsk by Navy veterans. The ceremony is timed to the Day of Submariners which is celebrated in the Russian Federation on 19 March. Belarusian and Russian Navy veterans celebrate this holiday together and hold a campaign “Homeland of the Navy Heroes”...

VITEBSK, 19 March (BelTA) – The world-renowned opera singer Lyubov Kazarnovskaya will give a concert in St. Sophia Cathedral in Polotsk as part of the International Festival of Ancient and Modern Chamber Music which will be held in Polotsk from 23 March to 11 May to celebrate the 1150th anniversary of the ancient city, BelTA learnt from Lilia Yemelyanova, chief of the concert department of St. Sophia Cathedral, a branch of the National Polotsk History and Culture Museum-Reserve. According...

VITEBSK, 14 March (BelTA) – An international research-to-practice conference “History and Archeology of Polotsk and Polotsk Land” will take place in Polotsk from 1-3 November and will mark the 1150th anniversary of Polotsk, BelTA learnt from acting director of the Polotsk National History and Culture Museum Tamara Dzumantayeva. The sixth conference (the first one was held in 1987, once in five years) will be supported by UNESCO for the first time. The international organization...