Lead:
Belarusian businessman
Alyaksandr Zingman was detained on March 19 in Lubumbashi, the second-largest city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Along with him, the security forces arrested the head of the AFTRADE company, Aleh Vodchyts, and the Italian entrepreneur P
aolo Persico. The wife of the latter confirmed that he had been detained.
Zingman is not just an ordinary exporter of Belarusian machinery to African countries. He is an honorary consul of Zimbabwe in Belarus and often accompanies the head of the Presidential Administration, Viktar Sheiman, on his trips to Africa.
What is known about the detained Belarusians?
The media of some African countries often call Zingman an adviser to Lukashenka s aide, meaning exactly Viktar Sheiman. Together with Sheiman, the businessman used to attend official meetings in Zimbabwe and Zambia.
Lead: Honorary Consul is not just pretty words for business cards, but also a guarantee of quite tangible preferences.
More than three dozen honorary consuls of foreign countries work in Belarus. Officially, this is not a diplomatic job. However, such a title gives certain preferences. Thus, one can find many representatives of the top Belarusian businessmen among the honorary consuls .
From the article you will learn which businessman represents which country and what perks he can expect for that.
Is an honorary consul just a figurehead?
Not exactly. Honorary consuls are not concerned with issues of citizenship and visas, although they can fulfill some functions of ordinary consuls: organizing events, legalizing documents, helping people who are in a difficult situation in their country. But the main purpose of their work is to promote relations between countries.