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Also there were a lot of different students’ conferences this year. And I didn’t lose the opportunity to participate in them. One of my reports was devoted to gender problem in international business. And now I’d like to tell you about the most interesting parts of it…

Women have made great strides over the last century in areas where they were not historically equal to men; they gained the right to vote, they removed the barriers to traditionally male professions, and they changed the way society looked at them. Women are no longer viewed as primarily «emotional» creatures, but are judged on their individual qualities.

But the gender problem is still burning all over the world and especially in the countries of the former USSR, Belarus is no exception. The fact that there is still women and men’s work, and still separate play for boys and girls, show how these are apparent even today. By breaking down these stereotypes and allowing men - or women - to be as feminine or masculine as they choose give them a chance to be individuals. And that is why the United Nations Development Programme supports the idea of expanding the public space for women in Belarus.

This Project is for women aspiring to social, political and professional success; for men willing to support active women’ striving for self-realization and for anyone interested in the sustainable democratic development of Belarus.

Society creates artificial barriers in the way of women’s professional, political and social careers thus depriving itself of the great potential that this social group possesses. Gender equality is a prerequisite to the effective development of this country. The goal of the Project is to ensure the real access to the sphere of decision-making for Belarusian women.

In order to feel motivated, reach out and participate in the decision-making women must first attain self-affirmation. Up-to-date education, relevant knowledge and skills are all ingredients of success that would allow women to become leaders. The Project provides an opportunity to get the education that fits women’s needs, status and employment.

Providing equal opportunities means not only that women must be able to gain the education that would allow them to access such traditionally masculine spheres as big politics, serious business, higher levels of power. Equal opportunities are founded, first and foremost, on equal rights. The Project calls for expanding women’s impact on the legislative process to ensure the gender equality in the society.

Women who aspire to participate in decision-making face an invisible obstacle in the form of the public opinion. The stereotypical view on the limited role of women in the public sphere unfortunately still exists in our society. It cultivates in women the predisposition to passiveness and dependence, and, at best, provides them with a sort of a greenhouse – a limited scope of possibilities of personal self-realization.

Women who have strength, knowledge and ambition to participate in public life want to step outside the greenhouse and into a real world. Yet, too often they cannot declare their aspirations because of the social disapproval that would follow.

The Project aims at working with Mass Media to facilitate the change of public opinion and create a friendlier social environment for women. Creation of social advertising is one direction of work with mass-media. The social advertising, that were created during such cooperation, got two first prizes in nominations «Noncommercial printed advertising» and «Video advertising» in the Seventh world festival of advertising «Idea! 2006» and two first prizes in the fourth Kiev International Festival of Advertising.

It is important to consider the gender inequality as an economic problem, not only social one!

Women represent the biggest social - demographic group in Belarus. There are above 5,000,000 women that make up 53 % of all the population living in this country. Today women face with excessive loadings on work, growth of unemployment and poverty. In each branch of the economy there are significant distinctions in the incomes received by men and women. The average wages of women make 81 % from average wages of men. In spite of the fact, that women and men have the same educational level.

Thus, the gender problem is really urgent in our society because having refused from a social equality of men and women we refuse huge prospects of successful economic development of our country.

East or West — home is best

The latest research of many scientific centers proved that the tendency towards the transfer to large cities and metropolises of the key efforts aimed at improving living standards and environment, increasing the competitive potential of economy and struggle for outlets will prevail in the 21^st century. The globalization process will facilitate the creation of global cities, the centers managing the world economy, financial markets and science intensive productions. Some megalopolis of the world became    city-states. Foe example, the following cities:

1. New York

2. Chicago

3. Washington

in United States of America

4. London

in United Kingdom

5. Berlin

in Germany

6. Rome

7. Milan

in Italy

8. Moscow

in Russia

(Would you like to continue this list???)

These tendencies, which were described above, prompted the necessity to elaborate the concept and strategic plan of a sustainable development of the city of Minsk (the capital of Belarus) by the year 2020.

The Minsk development concept fits in the formula «Five cities in one». The first component of the concept is «The city of health and high social standards». It means the top priority of the technological and socio-economic progress in Belarus’ capital city is not the development of production or technological values, but the Human Being and his/her physical and spiritual health in a safe and favorable environment. The following conditions are to be met to ensure this component:

- clean water,

- clean air, warmth in houses,

- good nutrition, etc.

The second part of the concept – «The city of knowledge and science intensive technologies» – includes the development of the educational, science-innovation complex, creation of a state-of-the-art information structure, restructuring of the industrial complex, technological upgrade of construction and power engineering and encouragement of foreign economic activity.

The third basis of the sustainable development of the city of Minsk is «The city is the center of international communication». It envisages further development of external transport functions, the culture component, tourism, and city media. Besides the economic benefit the communication progress results in a huge advantage for international and human communication in the modern integrated world.

The fourth strategy of Minsk’s sustainable development - «The city favorable for business and attractive for investments» – envisages the creation of such conditions as a favorable tax climate, land relations that correspond to market relations and establishment of the real estate market.

The fifth component of the Minsk development concept is «The city developing democracy with a wide representation of citizens». It aims at elaborating the rules of living in the city, methods of city administration and the interaction between the city authorities, population, companies and organizations, as well as ways to effectively perform the functions of the capital of the country.

«Sustainable development of the city» is not a new tag for old ideas, but a completely new approach directed towards the next generation. Sustainable development is necessary not only for regional, but also for global development, because the ultimate goal is to coordinate the interests of generations, develop social cooperation, improve living standards and become more responsible on a global scale.

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There is no place like home

This Friday 32 billion people (TV viewers and football fans) will be eye-witnesses of the start of the World Cup in Germany.

Let’s look at this sports event with relation to economy. German Institute for Economic Research says World Cup brings bad and good points for the national economy:

+ about 1 million tourists would like to visit Germany (football fans);

- but at the same time almost the same quantity of tourists would like not to come across with fans and they will refuse to visit Germany;

+ advertisers from Nike, Adidas, Coca-Cola etc. will fight for attention (and money) of football fans;

+ producer of sports ware and LCD television are sure that millions of dollars, that they spend on advertising, will be generously repaid.

But the World Cup means not only profits, but also losses!

Some economic experts think that British economy will lose about 4 billion pounds sterling, because employers will watch the games during their working hours (some of them will use the Internet to watch the games live), as a result - fall in productivity!

according to http://euronews.net

It’s no doubt that money is a very important issue in everyone’s life today. I even would like to add that money was and will be a very important issue.

But why do I believe in the vital importance of money in the live of our society? So, first of all it’s a real fact that money or if to be more executive the quantity of money determines the statement of any national economy. Nobody will deny that economy in its order determines almost all spheres of our life. And most scientists suppose that just economy create ideology, culture, religion and people’s viewpoint. For example capitalism originated such a religion as Protestantism, which preaches accumulation of capital as one of people’s aims.

But we can say about vital importance of money speaking only about the whole mankind, and not about every person. Because our opinions, interests and values are so different: some people consider money as the main value, others – as the main evil. However nobody wants to live on a shoestring, everybody wants to lose a quid and find a fiver. Also I must admit that some people can’t make both ends meet and are down and out because of money.    

International relations are primarily official contacts among the governments of independent countries. Such contacts may be peaceful or warlike and they are very important for the global economy.

Agreement is an arrangement or promise to do something, made by 2 or more people or organizations. A treaty is a formal agreement made by national governments. The agreement may be bilateral (signed by 2 countries) or multilateral (signed by more than 2 countries). Only the official representatives of independent countries may draw up a treaty. Before the agreement can go into effect, it must be approved by the governments of the countries involved. A nation may sign a treaty to promote its own economic interests.

When governments or other bodies wish to reach an agreement they usually organize a visit or hold or have talks, discussions or negotiations. And it’s very important to have special skills doing business worldwide. I have already told about the importance of cross-cultural skills in modern business. And now I’d like to give you some tips. I hope they will help you to understand business etiquette better.

First of all there are some words about greeting in some countries.

Spain:

Initial introductions with Spaniards are always formal: extend a brief but firm handshake, while maintaining eye contact and saying «buenos días» or «buenas tardes» depending on the time of day.

Men will continue to shake hands on all subsequent occasions. Women will embrace and kiss. In the company of friends, it is also common for men to hug or pat each other on the back as well as shaking hands.

France:

Expect to be greeted by a handshake; kissing on the cheeks [across genders] is also common amongst colleagues at work. It is not extended to outsiders and you should not attempt it until your female colleagues have made the initial move.

Germany:

Germans do not expect to be greeted by strangers, even when eye contact has been made, in the office environment.

Firm, brief handshakes at the time of arrival and departure are standard in both business and social relationships. Hugging and kissing on both cheeks are common only among good friends and family members. When arriving and leaving, take the time to shake hands with everyone individually in a group. The simpler American «group wave», for example, will not be appreciated in all but the most casual and familiar gatherings.

I should say that the greeting in United Arab Emirates, Iran and in Turkey does not vary significantly, because they all are Moslem countries.

The standard greeting is «As-salaam alike», [peace be upon you] to which the standard reply is «Wa alaikum as-salam» [and upon you be peace]. On arrival at the reception room, the visitor should stand in the doorway and utter the former of these phrases. Only after receiving the reply is he entitled to enter. In the event of no reply, he may repeat the greeting but continued failure to reply means that he is not welcome.         

If the room is carpeted, the visitor should remove his shoes and leave them outside to avoid bringing in impurities and thereby rendering the carpet ritually unclean for prayer. Once inside the room, he should shake hands with the most senior person first [usually but not invariably the host]. Then, he should make his way around the room in an anti-clockwise direction, shaking hands with each person in turn before taking his seat and joining in the conversation.            

The visitor should not change the subject of conversation except by logical opportunity or invitation. If there are more than fifty or so people in the room or if the seating is inconvenient, there may be consensus permission for him merely to shake hands with the host and wave a greeting to the others.    Once seated, crossing legs is perfectly acceptable, provided one does not direct the sole of the foot to an individual, which is a «go away» gesture.

Japan:

The Japanese greet each other by bowing. A bow can be a way of expressing thanks, saying “I’m sorry” or even asking for a favor.

China:

The Chinese will sometimes nod. Bowing is seldom used except in ceremonies. Handshakes are also popular.

If you visit a school, theater, or other workplace, it is likely that you will be greeted with applause as a sign of welcome. In turn, you should respond by applauding back.

 In Chinese culture, the question «Have you eaten?» or «Where have you been?» is the equivalent to «How are you?» in North America. Simply answer, ‘yes’ or smile and say «thank you».

India:

The traditional way of greeting in India is performed by holding your palms together, as in praying, and saying «Namaskar» [nah-mas-kar], with a slight bow. While «Namaskar» are Hindu ways of greeting, they are also accepted among all other communities. Shaking hands is also an acceptable way to greet people, but shaking hands with women is not universally accepted in Indian society.

Now you know how to greet your business partner according to the customs of his country.

“Blogging is the new model of interactive journalism,

COMMUNICATION and learning.”

from ABBYY Lingvo 11

Hi there!

Here will be my weblog devoted to global economy. It will be a kind of Live Journal where I will express my own opinion and comment on different events in business field.

There is an English saying: “Wise after the event”. It means that it’s easy to give many pieces of advice after something happens. But it’s rather difficult to predict everything in order not to get involved in an unpleasant incident.

I thing, that this saying is quite right for modern economy: a great many of experts like to make appraisals of economic crises and collapses, but only a few specialists can prevent them. And I will do the same in my blog.

But, first of all, I would like to tell some words about myself. My name is Alexandra. I’m a third-year student of Belarusian State Economic University and study international economic relations. But I don’t content myself with my studies. I go mad on cinema and music, like to spend my time with friends and in Global Network. Also I take a great interest in anime (Japanese animation) and Japanese culture (I am even trying to learn the Japanese language). I collect English proverbs and sayings and use it anywhere, even out of place

I’m from Belarus. This is a country of blue rivers and green forests in the heart of Europe. I live in the capital of Belarus, in Minsk. My country and its culture are not well-known; many from distant lands mistakenly consider it as a part of Russia. But in some countries Belarus is known for its economy. For example, Australians and Cubans associate our country with tractors. >:-)

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It would be interesting to know what do the people, who will read this post, know about Belarus and it’s economy? What goods from this country do they use? [:-)

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