The Foundation of Saint Andrew The First-Called from the Russian Federation together with the Karic Foundation from the Republic of Serbia, with the support of the Executive Committee of the City of Minsk and the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare of the Republic of Belarus, organized the 6th Forum of “Sanctity of Motherhood” programme in Minsk. During the two days of November 14 and 15, the main focus was on the “Family in the Contemporary Society: meaning, trends and perspectives”.

St Andrew The First-Called Foundation created the program in 2006 for the purpose of restoring the potential of the family as a fundamental social institution and the greatest value ​​that determines the whole human life.

The program provides social and psychological support to pregnant women and young mothers in an  unfavorable and difficult situation. It includes education of the young, combining the efforts of the mass media and online resources to raise public awareness for the promotion of family values.

The Forum in Minsk included a plenary session, discussions and thematic roundtables dedicated to the considerationof family-oriented initiatives and the understanding of social, economic, cultural, spiritual and moral conditions for the existence of a family in the modern world. Forum was attended by many foreign delegations, state officials, social leaders, scientists, journalists and experts …

Scientific and practical seminar for psychologists and experts in child birth “Reproductive health of the family: contemporary medical, psycho-social and ethical aspects” and a workshop “Experiences and perspectives of creating family-oriented media projects” were held.

Andrei Shorets spoke before the city of Minsk and said that the support to motherhood is one of the main priorities for the development of the city. “We are developing medicine and, as you all know, we are building new maternity wards and health institutions. We educate ourselves through the school system and keep the family as the basic cell of our society. ”

Ms Irina Kostevich, Minister of Labor and Social Welfare of Belarus pointed out that among the 179 countries the Republic of Belarus was ranked as 25th in terms of benefits for motherhood and childbirth and the first place among the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

On behalf of the Karic Foundation spoke Dragomir J. Karic, MP of the Serbian Parliament and Honorary Consul of Belarus to Serbia, and said that he always works on promoting his family as the most reliable and safest place, pointing out that he is a father of three sons and a daughter and has 12 grandchildren.

Milanka Karic, the founder of the Karic Foundation,  on the second day of the Forum, in her speech emphasized the importance and role of the woman as a family pillar, for in her opinion the woman of today carries a huge responsibility equally important and, at this moment, may be far greater and more important than the opposite sex. Hence, she underlined in her speech that where’s a strong family, there’s a strong state!

Chairman of the Board of Trustees of St Andrew the First-Called Foundation, Vladimir Yakunin reminded us: “Humanity is growing. During the past 1000 years, it has increased 20 times. Today, it is growing at the expense of the poorest countries. China, USA, Brazil, Russia are the leading countries in which birth rate does not allow the population to reproduce. All new trends need to be assessed, this is really important under current conditions”, said Yakunin.

Presidents of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus supported this Forum.