Belarus' economy minister calls to improve interaction between government, business

MINSK, 17 March (BelTA) – It is necessary to fine-tune the system of interaction between government agencies and business, Economy Minister Aleksandr Chervyakov said at a working meeting to discuss ways to integrate small and medium-sized businesses in cooperation chains with large state-owned enterprises, BelTA learned from the press service of the Economy Ministry.

The meeting was attended by Deputy Economy Minister Tatiana Brantsevich, Director of the Entrepreneurship Department at the Economy Ministry Olga Rusinovich, Director of the Institute of Economics of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus Denis Mukha, Deputy Director of the Belarusian Institute of Strategic Research Vitaly Punchenko, Director of the Economy Research Institute at the Economy Ministry Natalya Berchenko, Director General of the Belarusian Fund for Financial Support of Entrepreneurs Piotr Arushanyants and others.

“External uncertainty largely affects the mood of the business community in the country. We see that businesses are now less willing to take risks and sometimes “freeze” promising ideas although new niches are opening up in the markets. This problem was highlighted by the head of state who set the task to involve SMEs more actively in production cooperation. In order to address this task, we need to do at least two things. The first one is to reboot the system of business promotion advisory councils under government agencies. These councils should discuss proposals and come up with solutions to all issues that bother the business community. The second thing is to keep working to create a favorable institutional environment. Key aspects in this regard include the stability of legislation, reduction of administrative controls and commercial risks of SMEs,” Aleksandr Chervyakov emphasized.

The participants of the event conducted a thorough sentiment analysis of the business community in the current environment and determined the main avenues of joint work to stimulate business activity.

It was decided to discuss the proposed set of measures with representatives of business unions.