MINSK, 28 August (BelTA) – Minsk accounts for one third of retail turnover in Belarus, Chairwoman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus, Natalya Kochanova told journalists following a meeting of the Minsk City Executive Committee to discuss the results of the social and economic development of Minsk in January-July 2025, BelTA has learned.
“Monitoring the fulfillment of forecast targets means maintaining control over the situation in the city, because we know that the efficiency of its enterprises and organizations determines budget formation and the accomplishment of the tasks it is facing today. It is, first of all, about the country’s economy in general. Minsk accounts for one third of the country’s retail turnover. The contribution of Minsk is very significant,” Natalya Kochanova emphasized.
According to the speaker, the capital hit all the forecast targets in H1 2025 and exceeded some of them. “The city has fulfilled all the forecast targets for social and economic development in the first half of the year. Many of them were fulfilled well. For instance, housing construction: the housing construction target was overfulfilled, with 278,000 square meters of housing built in the first half of the year,” she said.
At the same time, Natalya Kochanova pointed out that some problematic matters remain, for example, with enterprises of the national form of ownership. “Today we heard out heads of enterprises about how they see the fulfillment of their obligations. Moreover, at the end of last year and the beginning of this one they committed to fulfilling forecast targets and said that these targets would be fulfilled. Today we did not hear it in their speeches. Therefore, understanding that it will affect the fulfillment of this target in general, we, of course, had a serious conversation,” the speaker stated.
According to Natalya Kochanova, special attention was paid to the tasks the head of state had set. “For my part, at the meeting of the executive committee, I emphasized the need to fulfill the tasks the head of state had set following the meeting that took place this week: trade provision for our citizens and the healthcare system. The president has clearly set the task that our people should not face such problems as from 1 January 2026. Therefore, we, of course, should all get involved in this work and monitor the product range in stores and the pricing policy. We understand that there are big retail chains in Minsk but it does not mean that only they should offer a wide range of products and sell products of proper quality. We have a lot of convenience stores. They should also offer the range of products our people need,” she said.
The speaker also commented on the upcoming 3rd Belarus-Uzbekistan Women’s Business Forum due in Vitebsk on 2-3 September. “We, members of the Council of the Republic, always work very closely on matters of economic cooperation with various countries. We participate in the work of ten international interparliamentary organizations. We have set up 42 working groups on cooperation with various countries. We hold events that have an economic effect and result in the signing of contracts and agreements,” she added.
The 12th Forum of Regions of Belarus and Russia took place in Nizhny Novgorod in June 2025. “The signing of agreements and contracts at the forum proved the efficiency of cooperation in fulfilling the previously concluded contractual obligations. Agreements and contracts will be signed during the Belarus-Uzbekistan Women's Business Forum as well. Interaction with Uzbekistan is also very important,” the speaker said.
Natalya Kochanova informed about upcoming plans regarding international contacts. “We intend to visit Kazakhstan in the near future. We will also promote our economic matters there and will hold a number of other events,” the speaker concluded.
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