Visit to Students’ Village
- 11
- 4:55
We need to show our face during the upcoming 2nd European Games, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he visited the Students’ Village, which will be used to accommodate the participants of the forthcoming competitions.
The head of state was informed about the village’s readiness for the 2nd European Games. The President was made familiar with the conditions created there for the accommodation of the participants of the competitions, the organization of catering services for athletes. One of the President’s main requirements was to use as many domestic products in catering and accommodation as possible. “We should feed the people out of our own resources. It will be a good opportunity for us to learn how things should be done. If you cook Belarusian cuisine dishes, both athletes and representatives of the delegations will be delighted to eat them. It is our culture. Let’s give them a taste of our life,” Aleksandr Lukashenko suggested.
All
the 15 sport venues where the competitions will take place are 99.9%
ready. “The venues where people will compete have been tried and tested.
We know how to organize things. The ice hockey world championship is a
case in point as well as many other top competitions, world cup stages,
and so on. I have absolutely no doubt that the 15 sport venues, which
will host specific kinds of sport, will be ready [before the games
begin],” the President stressed.
All
the Students’ Village facilities, which are supposed to be built in the
run-up to the 2nd European Games Minsk 2019, have already been built
and are being commissioned. In particular, the second hall of residence
in the Students’ Village has been built. The head of state wondered how
well university students in the country as a whole are supplied with
rooms in halls of residence and how the state of affairs will change
once all the facilities in the Students’ Village are commissioned.
Belarusian
Education Minister Igor Karpenko explained that the facilities will
allow increasing hall of residence availability levels up to nearly 94%
in Minsk and up to 96.5% in the country. Right now 84.7% of university
students can live in halls of residence. Apart from that, spare premises
will be made available for increasing the export of education services.
The head of state approved of the approach: “People from other
countries want to study here. They pay a lot of money. It is necessary
to build dormitories for them.”
The
head of state was also informed about the construction of halls of
residence for the Grodno university and the Belarusian State Medical
University, which are supposed to be finished in 2021 and 2020
respectively. The head of state warned that construction or renovation
work at such facilities should be done well, fast, and on time. “Don’t
drag out this process. Renovations sometimes take 5-7 years in our
country. University students need modest, decent, and comfortable
accommodation. They don’t need palaces,” he remarked.
Aleksandr
Lukashenko pointed out that all the facilities built for the 2nd
European Games Minsk 2019 have to be used effectively after the games
are over. In particular, the Minsk mayor was instructed to oversee
further use of equipment of the catering facilities. “All of it should
be distributed across Minsk [after the games are over] to cater to
university and school students as well as kids in kindergartens.
Everything should be used starting with tables and chairs and ending
with hot meal equipment,” the President said. “We are not poor. Yet we
are not as rich as to throw away good resources.”