The Republic of Belarus

	Geographical position of the country. Belarus is situated in the eastern part of Europe and it borders on Russia,Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. Modern Belarus occupies the territory of 207,600 square kilometers and it stretches for 650 km from east to west and for 560 km from north to south. The Republic of Belarus consists of 6 regions, the largest cities of which are Minsk, Gomel, Brest, Vitebsk, Grodno, Mogilev. About 9,5 million people live in Belarus. Belarusians constitute about 81% of the population of the country.But also a lot of Russians, Poles, Ukrainians and other nationalities live in Belarus. Today, both the Belarusian and Russian languages are official languages of the country. Belarus is often called the land of forests, rivers and blue lakes: one third of its territory is covered with forests, famous for its rich flora and fauna. There are more than 20,000 rivers and streams in Belarus, and about 11,000 lakes.
LakeNaroch is the pride of our Homeland. It is the largest lake in Belarus (79.2 km2, the deepest point about 25 m). The longest rivers are the Dnepr, the Nieman, the Zapadny Bug and the Zapadnaya Dvina. The Dnepr is the most important river in Belarus. It flows from Russian, through Belarus into the Ukraine, providing important shipping channel between the Baltic and BlackSeas. The climate of the country is moderately continental with mild and humid winter, warm summer and wet autumn. Rainfall is plentiful during the whole year, but of course, the climate is not the same in all parts of the country.
The climatic conditions in Belarus are favourable for growing potatoes, grains, sugar beets, flax, and vegetables. More than half the land is used for agriculture. Agriculture specializes in milk and meat production. The most developed branches of industry are machine building, radio-electronics, chemical, light and food industries. Belarus exports tractors, heavy lorries, motorcycles, TV and radio-sets, furniture, carpets, knitted goods, textiles, fertilizers.Belarus imports oil, gas, coal, metal, chemicals, cotton, sugar, vegetable oil, fish products, tea, coffee, wine.
	Political system of the Republic of Belarus. The BelarusianSovietSocialistRepublic was founded on the first of January, 1919. On the 30th of December, 1922 it became a member of the USSR. The Declaration of State Sovereignty was adopted on the 27th of July 1990.
Today Belarus is the presidential republic. The President of the Republic of Belarus is the Head of the State and the Chief Executive, who is elected by all-nation election for a 5-year term. According to the Constitution a candidate must meet several requirements: he or she must have Belaruscitizenship, and permanent residence in the republic not less than 10 years before the election, he or she must be at least 35 years old. The State power is being formed and realized in three structures – legislative, executive and judicial. According to the constitution of 1994 the legislative power belongs to the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus that is the two-chamber Parliament (the Chamber of Representatives and the Council of the Republic). The Chamber of Representatives consists of 110 deputies. A deputy of the Chamber of Representatives must be citizen of the Republic of Belarus reaching the age of 21. A deputy of the Council of the Republic must be citizen of the Republic of Belarus reaching the age of 30. Sittings of the Chambers are held separately. Each Chamber elects its own Chairman and his vice-chairmen who run the sittings. The term of office of the Parliament is 4 years. The Parliament's term of office may only be prolonged in case of war. The executive power belongs to the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus, headed by the Prime Minister. The cabinet of Ministers is created by the President in order to organize the executive powers in the fields of economy, foreign policy, defense, national security and other spheres of State. Its members are appointed and dismissed by the President. Courts represent the judicial power in the Republic of Belarus. There are different types of courts, for example the Supreme Court, the Supreme Economic Court, the Constitutional Court. The national flag, the national emblem and the national anthem are the national symbols of the republic of Belarus.

Vocabulary

to border on –

to stretch –

to constitute –

to be covered with –

stream –

pride –

shipping channel –

moderately continental –

mild –

humid –

rainfall –

to be plentiful –

to be favourable for –

climatic conditions –

grain –

sugar beet –

flax –

branch of industry –

lorry –

knitted goods –

fertilizers –

coal –

cotton –

to be adopted –

the Chief Executive –

to be elected –

to elect –

all-nation election –

term –

the term of office –

to meet the requirement –

citizenship –

citizen –

permanent residence –

the legislative power –

the executive power –

the judicial power –

chamber –

sitting –

to be held –

foreign policy –

defense –

national security –

to be appointed –

to be dismissed –