Something to be proud of!
My Belarus exhibition shows the power of the country’s achievements
Quite real and virtual exhibits, robots and simulators – this is how visitors are greeted at the unique exhibition My Belarus, which started its work at the Minsk International Exhibition Centre on the last weekend of the previous year. The exposition divided into themed areas – We are the Future, Quality Mark, Cultural Heritage, Smart City, Beautiful Country, Science and Intelligence, Care and Health, Sports Country, On Guard, Nuclear Energy, and Agriculture – has actually brought together the country’s achievements under one roof. In the next seven weeks it will continue to delight visitors and surprise them. It is already clear that there is much to be proud of.
‘Got caught up in the scale and atmosphere’
One can feel pride for the country and its achievements already on the approach to the huge areas of the exhibition centre. The large-scale area in front of the centre is densely occupied with a variety of machinery: from military and rescue to agricultural and quarry equipment. MAZ, BelAZ, Gomselmash, Belshina and many other enterprises have presented their unique and legendary machinery. Actually, visitors start their photo session already here.
However, once inside, you realise there is no need to hide your camera: each of the eleven locations offers something amazing, interesting and different. All of them are united only by a non-trivial approach to the design of stands and a variety of modern technical means. Visitors also agree with this. Among them is Natalya Krupskaya, who came to the exhibition with her friends. But since My Belarus turned out to be so big, they had to split up by locations.
“I got caught up in the scale and, of course, the atmosphere itself,” the guest admits. “Perhaps, with every opening of such large-scale projects in Belarus, we realise even more clearly that we have something to be proud of. Our country is cool and prosperous!”
Viktoria Arestova also feels proud of her country and plans to share the impressions of the exhibition on her blog.
“We are preparing an overview of the exhibition,” says Viktoria, practising milking a cow on a simulator located at the Agriculture location. “I think it will catch the audience’s eye. My husband and I are impressed ourselves: the stand of the Healthcare Ministry, e.g., attracts the attention with its touch-sensitive surgical tables and virtual reality. We are proud that this has been applied in our country and that young people in medical institutions can learn on such simulators.”
By the way, simulators and robots have become a kind of peculiarity of the exhibition. The men line up to drive the BELARUS-3522 tractor, whose digital simulator is presented at the same location. And here, visitors are treated to glazed cheeses. As it turns out, the robot that has cooked them is used in food production.
His ‘colleague’ entices and compliments visitors at the stand of the Belarusian National Biotechnology Corporation (BNBC). The robot not only tells about the enterprise, but also sings, dances and takes photos. BNBC is already offering import-substituting lysine sulphate and threonine to domestic agricultural producers.
Cities are getting smarter
The fact that the Smart City has long been not a fantasy, but a reality, is reminiscent of the location with the same name. Here you can wait for transport at a smart stop, get acquainted with smart video surveillance, and visit an immersive cinema. According to Andrei Mekhedko, a representative of Technics and Communications JSC (the company that developed the cinema), the cinema was set up directly for this exhibition. A film about the Northern Waterfront residential complex, where the exhibition complex is located, was created especially for demonstration here.
“That is, the audio-visual accompaniment immerses the audience in the atmosphere of the residential complex,” he explains. “The cinema is built for a specific exhibition, and the projection equipment is adjusted for it. The picture is ‘stitched’ in such a way that the projection goes on the walls and on the floor. The effect is similar to that of 3D glasses, only here they are not needed. Thanks to this, a large number of visitors can see the video content at once.”
Beltelecom Director General Aleksei Ivashkin meets us at the smart bus stop. It turns out that such a project has already become a reality in Mogilev. It is equipped not only with a smart timetable, which can be seen today at almost every bus stop in many cities of Belarus, but also with an interactive screen, enabling passengers to recharge their phones and connect to a Wi-Fi hotspot while also feeling safe because the bus stop is equipped with a video surveillance system.
“Next year, we intend to install one such stop in each region. And then it will depend on the co-operation with executive committees. The project is ready, and we can modify it according to requests,” Mr. Ivashkin notes.
Space as a premonition
The space pavilion is the most popular place to take photos. And it is understandable, because here you can see not only the capsule that has been in space, but also the spacesuits of Marina Vasilevskaya and Anastasia Lenkova while also learning more about how Belarus is expanding its space presence via working and under construction satellites and unique equipment.
According to Sergei Zolotoi, the Director of the Geoinformation Systems R&D enterprise of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, with the launch of the Belarusian spacecraft, Belarus’ space industry has received a new impetus in creating space devices.
“In particular, those created by Peleng JSC and Integral JSC,” Mr. Zolotoi emphasises. “In addition, it gave a good impetus to our education system, since a profile centre has been set up at the BSU, where students make satellites and various training programmes are carried out. This allows postgraduate students to defend their works on this subject.”
It is already obvious that there will be no indifferent visitors at the exhibition – as confirmed by the Romashkevich family.
“We found out about the event just in the morning and decided to organise family leisure time in this way,” Olga says. “The children were given ‘passports’ at the entrance, on which they had to put stamps on the master classes they had completed. The whole family solved the riddles of the power engineers. The girls guessed them all. And our dad got interested in the tractor simulator. He doesn’t work in agriculture, but he loves the countryside, so harvesters, tractors and machinery in general are his favourite subjects. As a teacher, I am keen on science and education. In general, everyone will find something cool here.”
COMPETENTLY
Education Minister Andrei Ivanets, “Our country has travelled quite a long way to become a sovereign independent state, and we can proudly say that Belarus has become a socially oriented state. Belarus is intellectual, because the most important wealth we have is people. Everything in our country has been done with the help of hands, labour and intellect of our people.”
By Vera Arteaga, Tatiana Beletskaya
