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Lukashenka orders government to speed up implementation of development program for flax industry

Alyaksandr Lukashenka has ordered the government to speed up the implementation of the development program for the flax industry, according to the government's news agency BelaPAN and BelTA.

The program should be completed in 2011, Mr. Lukashenka said on Friday while staying in the Braslaw district in northern Belarus.

Insufficient attention was paid to the flax industry in previous years, Mr. Lukashenka said. "That’s why if the target is 60,000 tons, we must do our best to close this subject this and next year, so that we won't talk about long fiber any more," he said.

Agriculture Minister Mikhail Rusy told Mr. Lukashenka that the harvesting of flax was coming to an end in the country, and that the quality of the gathered flax was rather good in the Homyel, Vitsyebsk and Brest regions. The approach to flax growing will change significantly in Belarus, Mr. Rusy said.

Equipment should be purchased abroad for Belarusian farms to improve the quality of flax fibers, Mr. Lukashenka suggested.