Belarus to stop exporting commercial timber
MINSK. April 19 (Interfax) - Belarus will soon stoop exporting round timber, President Alexander Lukashenko said Friday in his address to the nation and parliament.
Projects to modernize the timber processing industry will take the sector to a higher level and enable it to stop exporting commercial timber, he said.
"For the first time in the history of modern Belarus, exports of round timber, if they haven't fully stopped, will be stopped completely within days. The new production facilities will produce value-added products," Lukashenko said.
He recalled that he issued a decree prohibiting the dismissal of workers at timber processing enterprises during their modernization. This prevented a negative reaction from workers at these enterprises, he said.
"Today people get a more or less decent wage, at least two times more than before. There was a military mobilization of people there to carry out the objectives that we must meet," Lukashenko said.