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Belarusian-Polish commission to get busy with UPB dispute on 9 March

A Belarusian-Polish commission set up to audit the operation of the Union of Poles in Belarus will start working on 9 March, Yelena Bogdan, Deputy President of the Union of Poles in Belarus (UPB), told a press conference on 4 March.

“We have been working for four years to create the commission. We would like to have an objective evaluation of our public association, this is why we knowingly agree to such a comprehensive audit of our chartered and business activities. May the international commission examine whether rights of Poles are infringed upon in Belarus. We are ready to provide any documents for auditing. Our union is an open organization,” said Yelena Bogdan.

BelTA reported earlier that the decision to set up the commission to settle down the UPB dispute had been made at a meeting of President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland Radoslaw Sikorski in Kyiv on 25 February. The Belarusian head of the commission will be Commissioner for Religions and Nationalities Leonid Gulyako, the Polish head – Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Kremer.

Timed to the folk crafts festival Kazyuki 2010 that is going on in Grodno, the press conference gathered President of the Union of Poles in Belarus Stanislav Semashko, chairman of the UPB’s Grodno city branch Kazimir Znaidinsky, UPB legal advisor Edvard Kolosha, newly elected chairman of the Ivenets branch Stanislav Burachevsky as well as representatives of Lithuanian national organizations. The press conference focused on the UPB’s current operation and prospects.

UPB President Stanislav Semashko told media that in the near future he plans to step up the operation of the Union of Poles in Belarus within the framework of the organization’s charter and the Belarusian legislation. In particular, he vowed to resume the operation of regional branches of the organization and mentioned the Lida region branch as an example. He also said that the newspaper Glos znad Niemna and the UPB website will be renewed. According to Stanislav Semashko, the newspaper will soon have an insert in Russian and a blog will be started on the website.

Stanislav Semashko also said that the first company founded by the UPB had been registered. It will be a versatile business with no details available yet. The UPB President remarked that the UPB will need years to enhance its business, but if things go well, in future the Union of Poles in Belarus may get down to social projects such as kindergartens and homes for elderly people.

“Our union is open to everyone, not just Poles,” Stanislav Semashko underscored. “We are not interested in politics and we will try to stay far away from it. I think with time wise people will start thinking right. Only through negotiations we will be able to reach accord,” he said.

According to the UPB, as of 1 March 2010 the Union had 7,117 members, 74 structural units, including 34 ones in the Grodno Oblast.