The President of Belarus gave instructions to continue working on making recreation less expensive and on improving recreation and treatment opportunities in the country as he heard out a report from Leonid Kozik, Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus (FTUB), on November 22. The press service of the Belarusian head of state told BelTA, Alexander Lukashenko had been informed about the current state of affairs in the Belarusian trade union movement. Trade unions of Belarusian companies, institutions, and organisations vigilantly monitor the observation of union workers’ rights, safety arrangement and precautions, standards of organization, timely payment of salaries, and recreation of workers. Speaking about the FTUB’s fulfilment of Directive No 3, Leonid Kozik remarked, the Federation encourages the application of energy-saving technologies and had launched a massive awareness campaign to highlight frugality issues, in particular, by awarding those who excel at saving energy resources. The President was informed about international activities of the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus, in particular, about Leonid Kozik’s recent meetings with foreign trade union leaders. Recreation of Belarusians was discussed in detail during the meeting. The head of state was informed about the fulfilment of his last year’s instruction concerning the preservation of the trade union healthcare system and expansion of recreation opportunities for all citizens. This year foreign citizens bought 40% of trip tickets the FTUB’s sanatoriums offer. Around 16,000 holiday-makers that trade union health farms catered to came from Russia, slightly more than 10,000 — other countries such as Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, and Israel. In some months foreign holiday-makers occupied 70% of all rooms. According to Leonid Kozik, health-improving recreation is getting more and more popular in Belarus. The official attributed the trend to the quality of medical services and comparatively low costs. This year over 440,000 children stayed in recreational camps. The FTUB spent over Br1.9 billion on children’s recreation. Every child could stay in these recreational camps. However, according to Leonid Kozik some government resolutions impede the preservation of recreational institutions for children, in particular, some aspects of the operation of children’s establishment in autumn and winter as well as their transfer from temporary premises to permanent ones. The FTUB Chairman noted, the state could do it. The President asked him to prepare a detailed brief. The head of state was also informed about the reconstruction and repairs of sports, sanatorium and tourism facilities of the FTUB. The President was satisfied with the FTUB performance and its initiative to restore the facilities using trade union fees.