Dmitry Krutoi
MINSK, 22 October (BelTA) – The efficiency of foreign business trips, off-hours meetings and maintaining balanced media coverage were discussed during the meeting with the president, Head of the Belarus President Administration Dmitry Krutoi told the media, BelTA has learned.
Besides preparing for a major meeting on the development of Vitebsk Oblast, the report focused on such topics as information work, improving mechanisms for foreign working trips, and work process organization in line with Directive No.11.
According to Dmitry Krutoi, the president raised the issue of maintaining a so-called “information balance” between the branches of power, top-ranking officials, government agencies, and ministers. “How well we understand the current and pressing issues we must convey to the public and explain to them, and how actively government agencies are engaged in this work and control these processes,” the head of the Belarus President Administration explained.
“The president said there are some successful examples,” he added. The joint work of Belarus’ State Control Committee with TV channels and print media, their column titled as Under the President’s Control was cited as an example, where journalists systematically cover resonant, significant cases on the economic and social agenda, ensure they are resolved and control them in their own way.
Dmitry Krutoi also considers the coverage of retail issues in rural areas on TV channels and other media as a positive example. “By covering many processes, journalists stimulate our officials, and there is good feedback from citizens,” he said.
According to the Belarus President Administration, the top three topics citizens address have remained largely unchanged for a long time. These are utilities, prices, and medical services. “Today the president noted that these ministers are rarely seen on television, never make public statements, and there is no quality coverage addressing these issues. Merely appearing at periodic collegium meetings cannot be considered proper public outreach,” Dmitry Krutoi said.
He recalled that officials, parliamentarians, and local leaders have their own areas of responsibility in terms of information work. For instance, the prime minister is responsible for the economy, the prosecutor general and the State Control Committee for control activities, the houses of parliament for work with local authorities, and so on. “The president instructed to substantially strengthen this informational work, organized by specific areas. As for us in the Belarus President Administration, we will try to coordinate all these processes through the media,” Dmitry Krutoi emphasized. He noted that many aspects of the ideological and information work of the entire vertical are reflected in the recently adopted Directive No.12.
Another important topic of the report to the head of state was the recently signed decree on improving the procedures for official trips abroad. “The president has said many times that these should not be tourist trips. Any working trip must produce economic and investment results. Therefore, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the government have prepared instructions for virtually every country,” the head of the Belarus President Administration said. Regardless of the primary purpose of the trip, be it security, participation in a conference, or studying abroad, officials receive assignments related to the economic, trade, and investment agenda. “The president has already inquired about any results, given that he personally authorized trips for a number of individuals, particularly to countries in Africa and Asia. He specifically instructed to boost this work and keep it under control,” Dmitry Krutoi said.
According to him, one more subject of the report concerned “conducting numerous meetings, which according to Directive No. 11 should be rescheduled from working hours to weekends or after working hours.” “I have noted significant changes in this process over the last three weeks. All officials have been warned they will be held personally accountable for diverting ministers to irrelevant events. All meetings, collegium sessions must shift to weekends to maintain focus on core professional responsibilities during office hours,” Dmitry Krutoi pointed out.
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