ders: Agrarian Party [Aleksandr PAVLOV,
acting chairman]; Belarusian Communist Party or KPB [Viktor CHIKIN,
chairman]; Belarusian Green Party or BPZ ;
Belarusian Labor Party or BPP ;
Belarusian Patriotic Movement (Belarusian Patriotic Party) or BPR
; Belarusian Popular Front or BNF
; Belarusian Social-Democrat or SDBP
; Belarusian Social-Democratic Party
Hramada ; Belarusian Social Sports
Party or BSSP ; Belarusian
Socialist Party ; Civic Accord Bloc (United
Civic Party) or CAB ; Ecological
Party or BEP ; Liberal-Democratic
Party or LDPB ; Party of All-Belarusian
Unity and Concord or UPNAZ ; Party of
Communists Belarusian or PKB ; Party of
Popular Accord or PPA ; Republican Party of Labor and
Justice or RPPS ; Women's Party Nadezhda
International organization participation: CCC, CEI, CIS, EAPC, EBRD,
ECE, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Inmarsat, Intelsat
(nonsignatory user), Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, NAM,
OPCW, OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO,
WMO, WTrO (applicant)

Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Valery TSEPAKO
chancery: 1619 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20009
telephone: (202) 986-1604
FAX: (202) 986-1805
consulate(s) general: New York

Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Daniel V. SPECKHARD
embassy: Starovilenskaya #46-220002, Minsk
mailing address: use embassy street address
telephone: (17) 231-5000
FAX: (17) 234-7853

Flag description: red horizontal band (top) and green horizontal band
one-half the width of the red band; a white vertical stripe on the
hoist side bears the Belarusian national ornament in red

@Belarus:Economy

Economy - overview: Belarus has seen little structural reform since
1995, when President LUKASHENKO launched the country on the path of
"market socialism." In keeping with this policy, LUKASHENKO re-imposed
administrative controls over prices and currency exchange rates and
expanded the state's right to intervene in the management of private
enterprise. In addition to the burdens imposed by high inflation,
businesses have been subject to pressure on the part of central and
local governments, e.g., arbitrary changes in regulations, numerous
rigorous inspections, and retroactive application of new business
regulations prohibiting practices that had been legal. Further
economic problems are two consecutive bad harvests, 1998-99, and
persi