A.Lukashenko pays two-day visit to Italy and Vatican
A two-day visit of the Belarusian President to Italy and the Vatican begins today. Negotiations between Alexander Lukashenko and President of the Italian Republic Sergio Mattarella are planned. It is expected that the parties will look into bilateral contacts with a focus on trade, economic and investment cooperation, development of cooperative ties. Special attention is to be paid to the development of a fully-fledged regulatory framework for cooperation. During his visit to the Vatican Alexander Lukashenko is to meet with Pope Francis to discuss further development of contacts between Belarus and the Roman Catholic Church.
Mink hosts session of Belarus-Czechia cooperation commission
Promising avenues of Belarusian-Czech cooperation, with emphasis on the economy were discussed in Minsk by Foreign Minister of Belarus Vladimir Makei and Minister of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic Jan Mládek. During the meeting of the commission on economic, industrial and R&D cooperation the parties signed several bilateral documents. In particular, a memorandum on standardization, metrology and conformity assessment. The parties have identified new fields for cooperation in power engineering, industry, transport, agriculture and forestry. The next meeting of the commission will be held in Prague in 2017.
Today is Zhyrovichi Mother of God icon's celebration day
Today is the day to celebrate one of the principal relics of the Eastern Orthodox Church, Mother of God of Zhyrovichi's icon.
The image is among the 100 most celebrated in the world. It is revered both by the Eastern Orthodox and Greek Catholic churches. The icon is believed to be able to work miracles. According to a legend, the acheiropaeic image was reveled to people twice. First time, in the late 15th century as a stone on a regular pear tree. To celebrate the miracle a local landowner built a temple. When this wooden church burned down, the icon re-appeared. After that a stone church was built, and the boulder with the miraculous image was placed in its altar. Originally, the temple in Zhirovichi belonged to the Greek Catholics, now it is in Eastern Orthodox Church's possession. It is said that during the WWII the Zhirovichi Mother of God helped the local monastery escape destruction.
