Business dimension of Eastern Partnership can help cooperation in other areas, says Belarusian Economy Minister.
The business dimension of the Eastern Partnership should become the main one because it can help cooperation in other areas, Belarusian Economy Minister Mikalai Snapkou told BelaPAN in Vilnius on November 28 prior to the Eastern Partnership Business Forum.
"The transfer of knowledge and technologies is much more important that demanding compliance with the rules and norms of behaviour that exist in the European Union," Mr. Snapkou said.
Cooperation between Belarus and the EU would be far more productive if economic cooperation formed the backbone of the Eastern Partnership, he noted.
Mr. Snapkou stressed that Belarus and the European Union had no difference of opinion on business issues. "We should do what we`re doing—meeting with ministers, finding contacts, our business associations are talking and finding common ground," he said. "The nature of investment in our country and the nature of our investment in EU countries indicate that there`re no disagreements here."
Mr. Snapkou cited the construction of a Stadler train plant in the Minsk region and a Kronospan woodworking plant in the Mahilou Free Economic Zone as examples of successful investment projects by foreign companies.
"Political issues are very subjective," he said. "They need a comfortable environment, skilled labour and markets for their products. Belarus has all of that."
The Belarusian government has invited the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to prepare five large state-owned companies for privatization.
Officially, the unemployment in our country is reducing – if judging by the number of registrations at the labor exchange; however, the number of jobs doesn’t increase in the economy.
Recently Belarus State Military Industrial Committee announced that in the first half of 2016 its enterprises earned a net profit of $80m, thus over-fulfilling the assigned export plans by a quarter.
Poor economic conditions in the countryside, restrictions, unfair competition, inefficiency of state-owned agricultural enterprises also contribute to this ‘success story’, writes Aliaksandr Filipau.
On 20 June Lukashenka met with vice-chair and president of the Chinese CITIC Group Corporation Wang Jiong; it seems especially important in light of Lukashenka’s planned visit to China in September.
All the conditions for everyone to be able to earn a decent salary have been enabled in Belarus, however, it is necessary to make some effort to get the money, assumes the president.
Belarus is losing currency earnings – in the 6 months of 2016 the country earned 3 billion less than in the same period in 2015. Instead of removing the causes of the flop the state relies on magic.
He said Belarus would likely face economic tightening not only as a result of the coronavirus pandemic but also a Russian trade oil crisis that worsened this past winter.
In his report, philosopher Gintautas Mažeikis discusses several concepts that have been a part of the European social and philosophical thought for quite a time.
It is impossible to change life in cities just in three years (the timeline of the “Agenda 50” campaign implementation). But changing the structure of relationships in local communities is possible.