Kochanova: Our strength is communication with public

MINSK, 13 January (BelTA) – Chair of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus Natalya Kochanova hosted the extended meeting of the Presidium of the Council of the Republic that took stock of the work to process appeals from individuals and legal entities in the city of Minsk in 2022, BelTA reports.

“All of us should be involved in this work. Today it is impossible to do otherwise. This is the way things are in our country. This is what the head of state demands of us, and he is absolutely right,” said Natalya Kochanova. “The ongoing developments in the world are disquieting, because this is the distortion of historical truth, the imposition of non-traditional values. This is not our way. Our way is different. We have good traditions. There are quite a lot of them in our sovereign country. We stick to them and develop them. They become hallmarks of our country. One of them is the Our Children charity campaign. Aleksandr Lukashenko also suggested holding a charity event for the elderly With All My Heart. We got involved and saw that, indeed, these people need additional support. Although we have always supported them, it is necessary to encourage the youth to join the efforts,” she said.

Peace and calm, and even more so independence and sovereignty, are very expensive, the speaker noted. “Our country is pursuing its own independent policy, we have withstood and are withstanding the pressure of sanctions. We have not slowed down, we have even gained pace. Pensions increased over the year. Public sector employees also got a pay rise. The financing of social programs from the central budget for this year was also expanded. This took a great deal of effort from people who live and work in our country. The system that has been built in Belarus can be an example to follow for many countries. And they understand this very well. Belarus hasn't lost anything, it's moving forward against all odds. But we must understand and appreciate this, and communicate this to people,” Natalya Kochanova said.

“Sometimes, our inattentive attitude to people, our unwillingness to communicate with them and to hear them erode all the gains that were achieved over many years of hard work, the work that helped build a peaceful, sovereign state where a fair treatment of people is a priority. Based on the tasks that the head of state sets for us, we have no right to act differently. We must do everything to maintain peace and calm, so that our country will continue to develop. We must be united like a monolith to thwart the attempts to hurt our country. And we must not let down our older generations, those people who defended peace and freedom, who built our country bit by bit. We must do everything in our power. And it depends on us in many ways. Therefore, we must not push people away. We must work with people, we must help people. This is what makes us strong,” Natalya Kochanova said.