Priorities for U.S. technical assistance, outside the Nunn-Lugar program, remain economic restructuring, democratization, and humanitarian assistance. Limited U.S. assistance will remain targeted on reform-minded elements and take advantage of opportunities to encourage progress where possible, especially at the grass roots level where reform is most promising. Cross-cutting and Special Initiatives . Though privatization has made new private enterprise possible, lack of a durable commitment to reform by the GOB is a great impediment. The investment climate remains very poor, with the GOB retaining much control over the business sector such as imposing foreign exchange restrictions and two different official exchange rates, one for privatized companies and one for state-owned enterprises.
Public support is critical to sustained, national reform.
The public, however, lacks basic and objective information. The state media provided one-sided coverage of the President's illegal referendum in November 1996. Independent media cannot use government owned printing facilities, or government distribution kiosks, or even the government postal service. Direct and often indirect government censorship persists. Although the current political environment in Belarus limits the range of potential media activities, programs will include training of journalists in management and reporting skills.