MINSK, 19 April (BelTA) – Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko traditionally took part in the nationwide subbotnik [a voluntary labor day]. This year it was held on 17 April, BelTA has learned.
The head of state went to his hometown of Alexandria, Shklov District, for subbotnik. On Saturday, Aleksandr Lukashenko's team landscaped the site that hosts the festival “Alexandria Gathers Friends”, a popular event that is held every year in the midsummer on the Kupala night.
The choice of this place on the bank of the Dnieper River is especially symbolic in the Year of People's Unity, because it has always been a place of friendship and cooperation between various ethnicities and cultures.
Located on the trade route "from the Varangians to the Greeks”, the town hosted fairs and folk festivities forging the traditions of good neighborliness, which are sometimes lacking in relations between the countries today. The festival continues this glorious history. The festival is held near the bridge, which connects Alexandria and Kopys, two towns that are dear to Aleksandr Lukashenko, and also Mogilev Oblast and Vitebsk Oblast.
Now this picturesque place of Belarus will have new oaks, ash trees and shrubs. In the future, they will become a vivid reminder not only of a good tradition to hold subbotniks but also of diligence and peace-loving policy of the Belarusian people, a symbol of environmental and nature consciousness of Belarusians.
Upon arrival at the site of the subbotnik, Aleksandr Lukashenko was briefed on health and safety precautions.
He added that when he was a child there was a crossing over the Dnieper in the place where the modern bridge now stands. On the opposite bank of the river there was the town of Kopys. It was used as an example to launch a large-scale project, at the initiative of the head of state, to upgrade similar settlements all over the country. “This is from where the modernization of agriculture and urban settlements began in Belarus,” said the president.
According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, now the task is to ensure a minimum price for land plots in such settlements for those willing to build a house there. “It should be like that everywhere. We will see how things are,” said the head of state.
The president has always taken an active part in nationwide subbotniks and always emphasized the importance of preserving this tradition. As a rule, the head of state works at landmark construction sites, joins landscaping, and tree planting campaigns.
In recent years, subbotniks involving the president have been held at the construction site of the new building of the State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War, the Chizhovka Arena cultural and entertainment complex, the Lebyazhy aquapark, the new maternity hospital and children's polyclinic in Minsk, and the Olympic training center for rhythmic gymnastics.
During one of the nationwide subbotniks, Aleksandr Lukashenko took part in the reconstruction of the Dinamo Stadium in Minsk.
Among the sites where the president's team worked as part of the nationwide subbotnik over the past decade has also been the State Flag Square of the Republic of Belarus.
Aleksandr Lukashenko also planted trees at the Stalin Line historical and cultural complex and the Pripyatsky National Park.He also landscaped the Trofimov's Spring at his home town near the agro-town Alexandria.
