MINSK, 22 October (BelTA) - The preparations are in progress for a large meeting on sustainable development of Vitebsk Oblast due on 24 October, Head of the Belarus President Administration Dmitry Krutoi told the media following his report to the head of state in Minsk on 22 October, BelTA has learned.
A host of issues during the report to the president was about the preparations for the large meeting on ensuring the sustainable development of Vitebsk Oblast which is scheduled for 24 October.
The head of state is paying particular attention to the situation in the region, and there are a number of reasons for this. During his visit to Polotsk in 2024, which hosted the regional Dazhynki harvest festival, the president demanded that the leadership of Vitebsk Oblast thoroughly analyze the situation in each of its 21 districts and develop a clear, simple, and accessible development program for each district, a kind of program for the revival of Vitebsk Oblast.
In the spring of this year, Chairman of the Vitebsk Oblast Executive Committee Aleksandr Subbotin presented this document to the head of state. However, it turned out that the majority of the proposed measures were entirely underdeveloped. “As the president succinctly noted, it was essentially daydreaming and sent the documents back for revision,” Dmitry Krutoi said.
After almost six months, the revised program draft will be pitched again.
Furthermore, among the key topics of the meeting is the situation in the agricultural industry of Vitebsk Oblast where integrated structures were established some time ago. The effectiveness of this operational format and its prospects will be the subject of detailed discussion.
Another major topic is livestock loss and the measures necessary to improve the situation on this front, not only within Vitebsk Oblast but across the country as a whole.
“These three major blocks will be the subject of discussion at this meeting. We have invited over 300 officials. This is essentially the entire leadership pool of Vitebsk Oblast; the heads of key enterprises, the district executive committees, and key departments of the Vitebsk Oblast Executive Committee. Given that these issues are significant on a nationwide scale, delegations from other regions of our country will also be present," Dmitry Krutoi said.
A host of issues during the report to the president was about the preparations for the large meeting on ensuring the sustainable development of Vitebsk Oblast which is scheduled for 24 October.
The head of state is paying particular attention to the situation in the region, and there are a number of reasons for this. During his visit to Polotsk in 2024, which hosted the regional Dazhynki harvest festival, the president demanded that the leadership of Vitebsk Oblast thoroughly analyze the situation in each of its 21 districts and develop a clear, simple, and accessible development program for each district, a kind of program for the revival of Vitebsk Oblast.
In the spring of this year, Chairman of the Vitebsk Oblast Executive Committee Aleksandr Subbotin presented this document to the head of state. However, it turned out that the majority of the proposed measures were entirely underdeveloped. “As the president succinctly noted, it was essentially daydreaming and sent the documents back for revision,” Dmitry Krutoi said.
After almost six months, the revised program draft will be pitched again.
Furthermore, among the key topics of the meeting is the situation in the agricultural industry of Vitebsk Oblast where integrated structures were established some time ago. The effectiveness of this operational format and its prospects will be the subject of detailed discussion.
Another major topic is livestock loss and the measures necessary to improve the situation on this front, not only within Vitebsk Oblast but across the country as a whole.
“These three major blocks will be the subject of discussion at this meeting. We have invited over 300 officials. This is essentially the entire leadership pool of Vitebsk Oblast; the heads of key enterprises, the district executive committees, and key departments of the Vitebsk Oblast Executive Committee. Given that these issues are significant on a nationwide scale, delegations from other regions of our country will also be present," Dmitry Krutoi said.
Vitebsk Oblast revival program through 2030
A thorough discussion of the document lies ahead, given the abundance of pressing issues in the region. In particular, the president pointed out that the region chronically fails to meet its assigned key parameters for social and economic development. The gross regional product has, in fact, not once reached its planned target over the five-year period. The level of finished product inventory in warehouses remains one of the highest in the country.
Furthermore, there are problems at specific enterprises: Belwest, Vitebskdrev, and the Polotsk Dairy Plant. Workers at some of these enterprises have even sent a collective appeal to the president, asking him to look into what is happening there. The situation at the Orsha Linen Mill, which has been merged with the Baranovichi Cotton Production Association into a separate holding company, is also a cause for concern.
“There are in fact a great many questions regarding the development program for Vitebsk Oblast,” Dmitry Krutoi said.
The document comprises several sections, and for each one, there are specific nuances and reasons for detailed discussion. In industry, for example, these are the so-called anchor projects; in agriculture, it's crop rotation (the region has one of the most challenging climates and soil fertility situations), and specific prospects in crop farming and animal husbandry (determining the direction of development given the available financial and labor resources). In the tourism sector, there are ambitious plans to increase the share of tourism services in the region's economy to 10%. This is almost twice the benchmark set by the president for the government when the decision was made to establish a separate Tourism Development Agency.
Logistics is seen as a promising area, where the region has good potential in the form of the special economic zone Bremino Orsha, the development of Vitebsk Airport, and the reconstruction and construction of several key highways. This is because Vitebsk Oblast aims to become a major railway container hub.
On operation of the region's agricultural industry
The second important topic of the upcoming meeting is the region's agricultural industry. Dmitry Krutoi recalled that back in 2016, at the insistence of the leadership of Vitebsk Oblast, which was then led by Nikolai Sherstnev, agricultural industry integration structures were established. A corresponding decree by the head of state was issued. “There were also many meetings and discussions at the level of our leader. He expressed very serious concerns and doubts,” Dmitry Krutoi recalled.
Initially, there were four such integration structures. However, in 2020, as part of a major adjustment to the decree, this number increased to seven. “Today, six are operational. We have a complete breakdown of the economic results they have achieved. In some aspects they have been successful. However, overall, the country's leader is highly dissatisfied with the outcomes of their current work,” Dmitry Krutoi stated.
He emphasized that during the reorganization, despite the difficult circumstances of that period, substantial support was provided and everything requested by Vitebsk Oblast at the time was allocated. In line with this, a program for the development of agriculture in Vitebsk Oblast until 2035 was drafted, outlining annual production and processing targets. The revenue generated from this was intended to serve as the foundation for repaying all these debt obligations, which had been deferred and restructured over a very long-term cycle.
However, as of today, approximately 30% of the agricultural organizations that are part of the six integration structures are operating in the red. There is also debt overburden in the processing sector, which was forced to advance funds to these agricultural enterprises for carrying out agricultural work.
“Today, this tangled knot of problems and debts deeply concerns our leader. The draft document to be presented at the meeting essentially proposes a third stage of reorganization: instead of agro-industrial associations, we will create two meat and dairy holding companies. And once again, they request an additional package of state support, involving further installment plans, deferrals, or the writing off of fines and penalties in the energy sector, for government guarantees, and a number of other areas," Dmitry Krutoi said.
He stressed that the president is concerned with the question of how justified this is and who failed to fulfill their previous obligations. This is precisely what needs to be clarified at the meeting.
Measures to combat livestock mortality
The third major topic is livestock mortality. Over the past few years, the president has repeatedly given instructions to fundamentally turn the situation around in this area. “The Prosecutor General and the Prosecutor General's Office are assigned to this topic. Together with the State Control Committee, they have done a great deal of work to show an objective picture of what has actually changed,” Dmitry Krutoi said.
He noted that during this period, very strict measures were taken in this regard, criminal cases were initiated, and many officials of various levels were held accountable. This is already causing certain imbalances as well. The head of state's attention was drawn to this issue during the report.
On the other hand, extensive work has been carried out at the level of sectoral agencies and the Academy of Sciences to determine scientifically based indicators in this field. The head of the Belarus President Administration recalled that the president recently held a large seminar dedicated to solving the problem of livestock maintenance at every stage of animal husbandry. “A significant amount of material has also been prepared on how effectively the results of that seminar have been implemented and are being used in practice, and there will be a series of reports,” Dmitry Krutoi said.
“The president probably wants to adopt a comprehensive decision now to finally resolve this problem as well,” he added.
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