OREANDA-NEWS. On August 18, 2009 President Alexander Lukashenko met with Viktor Kamenkov, Chairman of the Supreme Economic Court of Belarus, Chairman of the Belarusian Basketball Federation, to receive his report, reported the Official website president.gov.by.

In his report, Mr. Kamenkov informed the President on the performance of the system of economic courts of Belarus in H1 2009 and on the situation with basketball in the country.

This year there has been a rise in the number of applications from businesses and state bodies to economic courts. In January-June 2009 the number of applications exceeded 57,500, which means that the average monthly number of cases each judge has to deal with is 97, which is the maximum level.

In this situation, instead of increasing the staff of economic courts, the Supreme Economic Court proposed to simplify many economic dispute procedures. Alexander Lukashenko was informed that measures were being taken in Belarus aimed at promoting the advantages of simplified and alternative forms of dispute settlement. In particular, mediation is being actively used. About 80 per cent of all cases dealt with by using the mediation procedure are settled by an amicable agreement.

Mr. Kamenkov made a presentation of a draft law that envisages bringing amendments to the active legislation to minimize the spending on court procedures and to expand the range of cases in which extrajudicial dispute resolution would be mandatory. By and large the President approved the proposal of the Supreme Economic Court.

On sport-related issues, Viktor Kamenkov has said that a sport management system has been created in Belarus, but legal regulation in this sphere needs to be enhanced. In Belarus, there is no system of legal training in the field of sport. Therefore, when international disputes arise, Belarus has to pay considerable costs for the services of lawyers from France, Russia and other countries.

As for basketball, there is a need to enhance basketball infrastructure in the country. For example, in Minsk, there is a shortage of good training grounds for national teams.

The President proposed Viktor Kamenkov to prepare appropriate draft documents and submit them for his consideration.