Housing Finance: VTB says it has signed over 10 billion rubles in loan agreements with contractors for medium and small businesses building individual residential housing, scaling up its contractor financing program and offering revolving credit up to 150 million rubles for up to three years (up to 80% of a private house’s cost) at 6% with escrow-account protection. Logistics & Trade: Belarusian Railway launched the Slavic Caravan freight service linking Orsha-Vostochnaya with Kazakhstan, with the first train carrying wood products, sugar, potato starch and compound feed; the route is designed to cut delivery times by nearly half by avoiding break-up and extra stops through Russia and Kazakhstan toward Uzbekistan. Industrial Policy: Lukashenka told the Horizont holding’s Brest Electric Lamp Plant to finish modernisation and start producing LED bulbs, citing weaker first-half results (output down 5.6%, profit down 32%) and pushing higher localisation and export targets. Agriculture Targets: Lukashenka urged farmers to deliver a 12 million-tonne harvest this year, stressing “technological discipline” as the key to meeting output goals. Digital & Security: Research claims Belarus-linked code behind EU-listed apps eSIM Plus and Nicegram, including Minsk signing and live integrations with Russian services, raising new compliance and cybersecurity questions for app distribution. Regional Security: Belarus and Pakistan reaffirmed defence cooperation after talks in Islamabad focused on joint training, exercises, technology collaboration and defence-industrial partnerships.