GANTSEVICHI DISTRICT, 16 March (BelTA) – More efforts will be poured into the establishment of business promotion councils in the regions, BelTA learned from Alexander Turchin, Chairman of the Business Promotion Council of Belarus, on 16 March.
Prime Minister of Belarus Andrei Kobyakov went to Gantsevichi District, Brest Oblast on a working trip on 16 March. As of early 2018 there were 133 micro, small, and medium enterprises in the region as well as 446 self-employed businessmen. SMEs paid Br4.6 million in taxes to the Gantsevichi District budget in 2017 or 32.9% of the total revenue.
Alexander Turchin pointed out that there are no industrial giants and major enterprises in Gantsevichi District, nevertheless, people should be able to earn decent salaries there, too. “We see that the development of the region lies primarily with the development of small and medium enterprises, which give both jobs and salaries nowadays,” he said.
Certain steps have already been made in Belarus to liberalize business operation terms. In 2017 the head of state signed the relevant documents. Other regulatory acts are being adopted to build on them. “Certainly, we have to move forward. The Business Promotion Council believes it has to set up similar councils in the oblasts and the districts. The relevant instruction was given by the head of state as he met with representatives of the business community,” noted Alexander Turchin.
According to the source, the regions need permanent venues where representatives of the private sector and government agencies could have a dialogue and discuss problems. “The experience of the national business promotion council indicates we get a lot of petitions from the regions. We have to look into them while we are in Minsk although most of them should be handled at the municipal level. We hope that once the oblast councils and the district councils are set up, they will handle these matters without them having to go all the way to the national council, the central government, or the Belarus President Administration,” explained Alexander Turchin. “We expect that this work will be finished within a month, two on the outside.”
