MINSK, 17 February (BelTA) – Belarusian First Deputy Prime Minister Nikolai Snopkov summed up the results of the meeting of Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko with representatives of private enterprises on 17 February and the main message of the head of state to the business community, BelTA learned.
“The main message is simple. The president has said it many times: ‘Be honest with the Motherland, and the Motherland will be honest with you,’” Nikolai Snopkov said when asked what the main message of the president was and what the business community should hear.
No need to differentiate business into private or state
Nikolai Snopkov emphasized that the president is more interested in the development of manufacturing business in Belarus than anyone else in the country.” This applies to the flagships of our economy, large enterprises, but also to small and medium-sized enterprises [with up to 250 employees]. As practice has shown, these are the most flexible, innovatively developing enterprises,” he said.
In his view, it is wrong to divide business into private and state business. At the start of the meeting the president noted: “I have invited you today to talk about urgent problems, if there are any, or issues that need to be addressed by our private community. I would like to pay attention of the officials (in the government and the Administration) in the first place that we do not have non-state enterprises here. We have private and state-owned enterprises in the country. There are no non-state people here, however” the head of state emphasized.
“The leader has made it clear that there is no private and public in the country. It is the business of the country. But there is a private form of ownership and a state form of ownership. I think that this postulate defines the institutional, basic norms of what business is and what the attitude to it is,” he noted.
All this, according to him, applies equally to the flagships of the Belarusian economy, large enterprises, as well as small and medium-sized ones. “Both for the former and the latter, the development conditions will be the same,” Nikolai Snopkov said. “Starting from financial products, which stimulate the development of the investment cycle, and ending with institutional conditions - legislative and regulatory ones.”
Bureaucracy must be uprooted
As for the further liberalization of legislation, Nikolai Snopkov is convinced that it is not needed. Instead, all efforts should be concentrated on fighting the bureaucratic hydra.
“The legislation does not need to be liberalized. We need to do a lot of work on de-bureaucratization, on improving the regulatory environment,” he believes. Bureaucracy, according to him, is sometimes off the charts, especially in terms of procedural issues, deadlines, and the presence of many subjective factors.
“We must cut it out at the root. The government will deal with this in earnest. Business development really depends on the success of this work,” he said. “Bureaucracy is a hydra, which cannot destroy itself. It can be destroyed only from the outside. Therefore, in fact, this task is the main one”.
According to him, after such a tough, rational and pragmatic revision, all procedures are to go digital. “We are confident that this will create that atmosphere of simplicity and comfort that business needs,” he added.
No need to differentiate business into private or state
Nikolai Snopkov emphasized that the president is more interested in the development of manufacturing business in Belarus than anyone else in the country.” This applies to the flagships of our economy, large enterprises, but also to small and medium-sized enterprises [with up to 250 employees]. As practice has shown, these are the most flexible, innovatively developing enterprises,” he said.
In his view, it is wrong to divide business into private and state business. At the start of the meeting the president noted: “I have invited you today to talk about urgent problems, if there are any, or issues that need to be addressed by our private community. I would like to pay attention of the officials (in the government and the Administration) in the first place that we do not have non-state enterprises here. We have private and state-owned enterprises in the country. There are no non-state people here, however” the head of state emphasized.
“The leader has made it clear that there is no private and public in the country. It is the business of the country. But there is a private form of ownership and a state form of ownership. I think that this postulate defines the institutional, basic norms of what business is and what the attitude to it is,” he noted.
All this, according to him, applies equally to the flagships of the Belarusian economy, large enterprises, as well as small and medium-sized ones. “Both for the former and the latter, the development conditions will be the same,” Nikolai Snopkov said. “Starting from financial products, which stimulate the development of the investment cycle, and ending with institutional conditions - legislative and regulatory ones.”
Bureaucracy must be uprooted
As for the further liberalization of legislation, Nikolai Snopkov is convinced that it is not needed. Instead, all efforts should be concentrated on fighting the bureaucratic hydra.
“The legislation does not need to be liberalized. We need to do a lot of work on de-bureaucratization, on improving the regulatory environment,” he believes. Bureaucracy, according to him, is sometimes off the charts, especially in terms of procedural issues, deadlines, and the presence of many subjective factors.
“We must cut it out at the root. The government will deal with this in earnest. Business development really depends on the success of this work,” he said. “Bureaucracy is a hydra, which cannot destroy itself. It can be destroyed only from the outside. Therefore, in fact, this task is the main one”.
According to him, after such a tough, rational and pragmatic revision, all procedures are to go digital. “We are confident that this will create that atmosphere of simplicity and comfort that business needs,” he added.
Economic unity in the regions
Another topic discussed during the meeting was regional development as one of the main elements and requirements which ensures the efficiency of the country's economy. According to Nikolai Snopkov, the president once again focused on the implementation of the One District, One Project initiative.
Small and medium-sized businesses are currently implementing more than half of the projects. “Internal energy, domestic resources and domestic investors are the three pillars that will power our economy this year and in the next five-year period,” he pointed out.
He was asked how local businesses responded to the recent move to give more powers to local authorities, which was initiated by the head of state, and, in particular, to entitle the heads of the district executive committees to approve heads of enterprises, Nikolai Snopkov stated: “I don't see any problems here if we consider the state and business, private and state-run enterprises as a unified whole (in this case, as economic unity), as partners. This is the only way when we talk about development, especially rapid development. We help each other, we interact. This is my opinion. If a chairman of a district executive committee, who is responsible for the development of a given territory, knows a person who will head a private enterprise based locally, I believe that this is a regular practice of partnership. The state and business should be partners, not opponents.”
Entrepreneurship Development Council for systemic initiatives
During the meeting with representatives of private enterprises, the president drew the attention of Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko and First Deputy Prime Minister Nikolai Snopkov to the lack of activity on the part of the Entrepreneurship Development Council. According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, this council should have dealt with the problems of the private sector and accumulated the issues that need to be addressed at the level of the president, and informed the president about them.
Following the event, the journalists asked Nikolai Snopkov about the work of this council and whether it would be developed. “It depends on feedback from business...” he answered.
Nikolai Snopkov explained that he received specific proposals from the business community through this council, despite the fact that he always encouraged them to make systemic proposals worthy of attention of the president. “If I get systemic initiatives that will solve a problem for the whole country or the business community, I will submit them to the president. I have all the powers to do so, and the president has once again confirmed it today,” he stated.
He reminded business representatives of the well-known saying "sink or swim" and called them to keep this in mind when applying to the Entrepreneurship Development Council. “Formulate your proposals in a clear and systemic fashion: I am your bridge to the future,” he said.
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