An archive photo
MINSK, 9 April (BelTA) – Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko has approved the appointment of Andrei Dikun as director general of ZAO Atlant – Director of the Minsk Refrigerator Plant, BelTA has learned.
Until now, Andrei Dikun held the post of Director of OAO Minsk Plant Termoplast.
“Andrei Vasilyevich [Dikun], do you realize where you are going?” the head of state asked.
“I do. We have the product and the market. I will get to work,” Andrei Dikun replied.
While approving the appointment of Andrei Dikun, the president paid particular attention to the enterprise’s work on foreign markets. The tasks lie both in building a distribution network and in reducing production costs, lowering the cost of products and enhancing their competitive advantages.
“The process is under way. There has been some progress. We are ramping up our own trading house and building the enterprise’s prospects with a focus on internal work on cost and price. Andrei Vasilyevich [Dikun] will be mainly focused on this, drawing on his experience at Termoplast. We hope to rectify the situation by the end of the year,” Dmitry Krutoi, head of the Belarus President Administration, who was present during the discussion of personnel matters, reported. “By your decision, the chairman of the supervisory board there is the relevant deputy prime minister, Viktor Karankevich, who personally oversees all these issues and processes.”
The head of the Administration also said that certain assistance to the enterprise is expected to be provided at the level of the city of Minsk. “This primarily concerns tax preferences and support for investment projects that have been developed and are being implemented,” he said.
An important positive point is that, despite the current difficulties and growing product inventories, the enterprise has not fallen behind on its payments. Given Atlant’s location in Minsk, where the labor market is quite large, the enterprise also always faces a challenge with the personnel, Dmitry Krutoi noted, as wages must be competitive with the capital’s average in order to retain sought-after specialists.
After hearing the information, Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that Atlant has always been, quite literally, right before his eyes, since it is situated across from the Independence Palace, where the head of state regularly works: “When I drive out or drive up here, I always look at Atlant and think about how they are doing over there. The fact that they haven’t fallen behind on payments is already a good sign.”
Addressing the new head of the enterprise, the head of state expressed confidence that a market for Atlant’s products indeed exists, but sales need to be worked on thoroughly. “You won’t sell your products just by stepping outside the gate. You have to work in the markets. In Russia, Atlant’s products are in good demand and it will continue to be like that,” he said. “In general, Russians have a good attitude toward our products. Even if they are more expensive, they buy them. They know it’s like their own.”
As for the high level of competition on the Russian market – from Chinese manufacturers of similar products, for example – Aleksandr Lukashenko drew attention to the fact that there is an attempt at market capture and price dumping, and the Russians are aware of this as well. "They will dump at this stage. Then prices will skyrocket once they are left as monopolists. Classic,” he said.
At the same time, Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed the importance of working to reduce the cost of Atlant’s products. “Cost, and once again cost. Why should I teach you, Andrei? You know no worse than I do. You know how to work,” the head of state said. “It is a large enterprise. And it is constantly ‘under the eye of the president’. So, on the one hand, I am grateful that you have taken the risk of going to this enterprise and stabilizing it. But on the other hand, you must understand that the demands for this will be most serious.”
The head of state wished the new head of Atlant success and promised support. At the same time, he warned that the enterprise should, in the long term, rely primarily on its own strength. “Don’t expect that you will bring down costs and expenses through some tax breaks from the city executive committee – it may work at the initial stage. But later, it will be quite the opposite: the city executive committee will need your help with the budget so that we can pay doctors, teachers and decent pensions to our people. That is very important for us,” he said.
The president also pointed to the overall situation in the world, within which certain decisions on enterprise development have to be taken: “We are in a period where there are quite a few advantages, if you look around the world, but also quite a few problems that are beyond our control.”
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