Viachaslau Pilipuk: It is more efficient to cooperate with the entrepreneurs than to push them away

The working group of the Ministry of Economy will consider the "National project" of the non-governmental organization "Perspective" on January 30.

Minsk will host the next Business Forum, organized by the NGO "Perspective" on February 27. The businessmen are waiting for the reactions of authorities to the draft decree "On some measures to simplify regulation and stimulation of self-employment in the retail trade" or the "National project", approved by the previous forum, which took place on December 5, 2016.

What kind of mood prevails among the business leaders? What are the plans of the self-employed businessmen? The "EuroBelarus" Information Service discussed it with Viachaslau Pilipuk, the deputy chairman of the NGO "Perspective".

- We are awaiting the decision on the "National project". It is expected that the working group of the Ministry of Economy will also consider such issues as certification and disposal fee.

- What was the first reaction of the authorities to the "National project»?

- The authorities say that the adoption of this decree is a complex matter, they say we should have been more involved in the discussion of the decree №222 before it was signed. We expect that all the relevant departments and ministries will speak their mind about our project on January 30.

- It is to be understood the businessmen feel the toughening of the rules of the game rather than simplification of them?

- We cannot say that there is an active stiffening of the work environment. Our representatives would like to cancel the procedure of the confirmation of conformity certificates issued in Russia. But the most important proposal is to cancel the certification for the self-employed entrepreneurs.

In other words, it is the State Committee for Standardization that makes advances towards the entrepreneurs. It stopped the practice of raids to not jangle nerves of the people but started to make written appeals to the Entrepreneurship Council of a shopping center and requests their suggestions.

- Will the "Perspective" plan its further actions after the meeting of the working group?

- For sure. The project has been distributed among the Ministry departments and we have received no feedback yet. We will get it at the meeting of the working group on January 30.

- Were the last months associated with major losses for the self-employed entrepreneurs?  

- The statistics shows that the number of entrepreneurs is reducing. We assume that the 2015-2016 saw the number of entrepreneurs decrease by at least 12%.

Although the officials say we need to support small and medium businesses, it is not enough to talk about it, we need action. And to achieve any progress it is needed to interact with the business environment and learn from the experience of the countries with developed market economy. It would be more efficient to make an agreement with the entrepreneurs rather than to push them away.