Mr. Vassily M. Maksimenko, Chairman of the Chechersk District Executive Committee 
As it is well known, the Chechersk district was directly affected by the Chernobyl NPP accident. Many people had to leave the territory to seek permanent residence in radionuclide-free zones. But what is more important, the majority of people decided to stay. And even regardless the extremely demanding environmental situation, they are not willing to live anywhere else. As for me, I believe in the future for our district, I believe in its beautiful and diligent people, experienced and skilful workers. We have already made the first real steps towards improvement of the situation: I signed the Declaration of Principles of the CORE Programme. I signed it because I am sure that we have great specialists, proactive people eager to do a lot for the betterment of the Chechersk District, they have plenty of interesting ideas. But this is not enough. We need real investments into our economy, and I hope that the Programme will be a vehicle for new development initiatives, and people will be optimistic about their future. After the Chernobyl Disaster, the Chechersk District had to face the challenges of the transition period. We could not avoid the industrial and agricultural recession. Yet we still believe that the CORE Programme would help considerably improve the situation, and we perceive its success in the irreversibility of the constructive and positive changes. Vassily Maksimenko | 
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