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MINSK, 26 January (BelTA) –The modernization of the economy through innovation is a top national priority, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said at a meeting to discuss a project to set up an educational center for gifted youth offering training in the professions of the future in Minsk on 26 January, BelTA has learned.
“The fact that the education system must be a priority has been stated more than once. Especially now, when education and science are at a special stage of development. I have said it repeatedly: one of the most important tasks for the country today (perhaps the most important task) is the modernization of the economy through innovation,” the president said.
“We have learned to do many things, but mostly we replicate what has already been done in the world: we copy, add something of our own, or sometimes not. That’s natural, every country does the same,” the head of state added.
However, the president emphasized, advanced countries can be called such when they are capable of producing something of their own from start to finish. “Unfortunately, in this regard, we cannot boast many developments, to be frank,” Aleksandr Lukashenko noted.
The president emphasized the need to determine which promising areas should be developed. These are areas that no state can do without. On this point, the president highlighted the need to advance biotechnologies.
“Take the [coronavirus] pandemic. We got through it. But remember, did we have vaccines in sufficient supply? Did we have the medicine?” the head of state pointed question to Vladimir Karanik, Chairman of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (NASB), who previously served as minister of healthcare. “We have already learned to do certain things and say that we can do them. Yet, for some reason, we did not do it back then, if we are talking about healthcare, biotechnology, and so on.”
“The question is whether we need to set up a separate center to advance these areas. We have the capacity to create a separate center, but I believe we have the ability to develop [promising areas] within our traditional centers of science and education. I am referring to universities, institutes, and the Academy of Sciences. There is plenty of space; what we need are people who can drive this forward,” he stated.
Aleksandr Lukashenko also recalled that the strategic areas for development was outlined at the Belarusian People’s Congress. The Belarusian People’s Congress adopted a program for social and economic development for the upcoming five-year period. Furthermore, significant efforts are focused on ensuring the country’s technological sovereignty.
“The fact that the education system must be a priority has been stated more than once. Especially now, when education and science are at a special stage of development. I have said it repeatedly: one of the most important tasks for the country today (perhaps the most important task) is the modernization of the economy through innovation,” the president said.
“We have learned to do many things, but mostly we replicate what has already been done in the world: we copy, add something of our own, or sometimes not. That’s natural, every country does the same,” the head of state added.
However, the president emphasized, advanced countries can be called such when they are capable of producing something of their own from start to finish. “Unfortunately, in this regard, we cannot boast many developments, to be frank,” Aleksandr Lukashenko noted.
The president emphasized the need to determine which promising areas should be developed. These are areas that no state can do without. On this point, the president highlighted the need to advance biotechnologies.
“Take the [coronavirus] pandemic. We got through it. But remember, did we have vaccines in sufficient supply? Did we have the medicine?” the head of state pointed question to Vladimir Karanik, Chairman of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (NASB), who previously served as minister of healthcare. “We have already learned to do certain things and say that we can do them. Yet, for some reason, we did not do it back then, if we are talking about healthcare, biotechnology, and so on.”
“The question is whether we need to set up a separate center to advance these areas. We have the capacity to create a separate center, but I believe we have the ability to develop [promising areas] within our traditional centers of science and education. I am referring to universities, institutes, and the Academy of Sciences. There is plenty of space; what we need are people who can drive this forward,” he stated.
Aleksandr Lukashenko also recalled that the strategic areas for development was outlined at the Belarusian People’s Congress. The Belarusian People’s Congress adopted a program for social and economic development for the upcoming five-year period. Furthermore, significant efforts are focused on ensuring the country’s technological sovereignty.
“As is the case worldwide, we are setting up new production facilities, but on a very insufficient scale. Perhaps I am not yet fully aware of everything. They operate autonomously, with minimal or even no human involvement,” the Belarusian leader said. “Scaling up such high-tech production is the key to our future prosperity. However, for such a serious innovative transformation of the economy, we need specialists with knowledge that can match the world’s best.”
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