OREANDA-NEWS. October 06, 2010. Cooperation of France and Belarus for carrying out projects of the international program CORE (Cooperation for rehabilitation of living conditions in Chernobyl-affected areas of Belarus) will continue, said Michel Raineri, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of France to Belarus, on 5 October.

The diplomat took part in the international seminar “Experience of Belarus-France cooperation in the long-term rehabilitation of living conditions after the Chernobyl catastrophe in Belarus”. The seminar is supposed to take place in Gomel on 5-6 October.

“It is necessary to continue the implementation of the CORE program primarily for enhancing the safety of the people that live in polluted areas and you can count on support of France,” said Michel Raineri.

Belarus will have to do a lot to rehabilitate the areas that have been affected by the Chernobyl disaster. For the sake of future development of these territories such CORE program areas as agriculture, healthcare, and education are equally valuable. The diplomat said he hopes that the program will work for many years.

The international seminar in Gomel has gathered around one hundred participants from Belarus, France and Russia. Specialists of various government agencies are expected to discuss results of the five-year CORE program in the area of social and economic development, healthcare, education in the polluted areas.