Belarus bets on digital sector development

From unmanned systems to the platform economy: how to ensure technological sovereignty and security in the Union State. Promising areas of co-operation with Russia were showcased to Aleksandr Lukashenko.

The development of unmanned aircraft systems in Belarus is an excellent prospect, the President of Belarus said as he visited the exhibition of Russia’s advanced drones in Minsk

BELTA

Among the participants of the event on Russia’s behalf were Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office of Russia Maxim Oreshkin and special representative of the Russian President for digital and technological development Dmitry Peskov. Yuri Kozarenko, Director General of the Transport of the Future, Chairman of the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Competence Centre, presented a detailed report on the prospects of using unmanned systems in various sectors.

Russia suggests building a plant in Belarus to manufacture unmanned aerial systems with a capacity of up to 100,000 units annually. The use of a single technological platform will ensure, among other things, economic efficiency and simplify the production and development of new models.

 According to Yuri Kozarenko, the use of drones in various sectors will contribute to the country’s GDP in the amount of several U.S. billion dollars. “We have digitised Belarus’ parameters and understand how many drones are needed and what will be the impact on GDP. At the first stage, 2,000 agro-drones will give up to $1 billion to GDP. This includes higher yields, no losses, because agricultural machinery do crush trample crops, cost saving with respect to plant protection products and many more. This also means digitisation of all fields. This is smart agriculture,” he cited an example.
A similar financial effect can be obtained with using unmanned aircraft systems in logistics, for monitoring needs in various fields and even in educational areas.
“There are a huge number of requests from various countries. Let’s respond to these requests together,” Yuri Kozarenko said.
“We will study this matter in detail,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “This is a huge prospect for us.”

The Head of State was shown various unmanned aircraft systems that can perform a whole range of tasks, including special ones. Among the exhibits there was even an artist drone, which helped set a world record for a mural drawn on the area of 300 m2. This is the world’s largest art object created by a drone.

Aleksandr Lukashenko suggested compiling a group of Belarusian specialists and sending them to Russia for additional training in the most advanced areas of unmanned aircraft systems. “You will teach our specialists to work in the area,” he said.
According to the President, in April-May he plans to receive a report from Belarusian specialists, who have been given instructions to develop domestic unmanned systems. The information voiced by the Russian representatives came just at the right moment. “It is great that you told me about it. Now I know whom to ask to help me receive this report,” the Head of State said. “We make both planes and helicopters for agriculture. They were on display before. We will together review the results. So get ready.”
In conclusion, Aleksandr Lukashenko thanked the Russian representatives for the information they provided and declared his readiness to co-operate in the construction of the plant. “We are ready to build the plant. We guarantee high-quality construction here,” he said.
“Thank you very much, and I am grateful to Vladimir Vladimirovich [Putin, Russian President] for sending his assistant here to show us all these things. We are capable of doing some things. But I have the feeling that we are only at the first stage. The Russians have made very serious progress in this area,” the President said.
Russia is to host an unmanned systems championship in the autumn. A team from Belarus has also been invited. “Give us a programme so that we can get ready for the event,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
Aleksandr Lukashenko heard out a report on the promising areas of co-operation with Russia. Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office of Russia Maxim Oreshkin spoke about the topic in detail. There are a lot of areas, and they go far beyond drones. These areas also include platform economy and data economy, the introduction of digital currencies, drive tourism, the development of railroad services, industrial robots, in-depth training of engineering personnel, digitalisation of education and healthcare.

“The things you mentioned about medicine, healthcare are something we have already been practising here. Maybe you got this idea because Russia is huge. We are a relatively small country. We have already introduced everything you talked about as a ‘one-hospital project’ here,” the Head of State said. “Linking doctors (the centre and regional centres, hospitals) is not a problem. We have already done it. But it is very important to link all this into one whole, as it has been done in Moscow. We need to do it.” 

DOSSIER 

A branch of the economy related to the creation and use of civilian drones is expected to appear in Russia in the coming five years. For this purpose, the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) national project began work in early 2024, and it will define the unmanned aviation development strategy for the period up to 2030-2035.

PROMISING AREAS

— Digital platforms allow increasing the direct supply of Belarusian goods to the Russian and related markets. The development of the platform economy also involves investments in new infrastructure.
— In 2024, the tourist flow between Belarus and Russia amounted to five million people, the average duration of trips was about 4-5 days. The countries intend to systematise tourist routes, integrate digital services, and develop technical solutions that would make the journey of road travellers more convenient and enjoyable.
— The construction of high-speed railways (HSR) will help to enhance the economic interconnectedness of the two countries. So far, the journey between Minsk and Moscow by rail takes more than eight hours. Thanks to the HSR, it can be reduced to three.
— The data economy implies the introduction of digital platforms and standards, the construction of data centres with the possible use of nuclear energy, and the creation of joint research centres in the field of artificial intelligence.

President on new Government: new generation now in charge of the country

On March 10th, President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko fully formed the country’s new government by appointing Aleksandr Turchin, former Chairman of the Minsk Regional Executive Committee, as Belarus’ Prime Minister

In addition, the Head of State also appointed Roman Golovchenko Chairman of the National Bank’s Board. Last week, the Belarusian leader made personnel decisions, appointing deputy prime ministers and ministers to the new Government.
Commenting on the personnel decisions, Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed that they have nothing to do with the issues of professionalism (all managers working well), “Completely new people have joined the Government. The new generation, as promised, is now in charge of the country.... We promised that we would train the young and bring them to power. They will have to take over the country and lead it further. A whole new generation has come to run the country’s main bloc. These are people who are just over 40-50 years old. This is the generation that, after gaining experience and learning from the older generation, should move our country forward.”
The Head of State emphasised that these appointments are less about professionalism than anything else, “All people are professional; we have hardly made any personnel mistake. It has to do with reshuffles.”
Using the example of the work of ex-PM Roman Golovchenko, the Belarusian leader stressed that a person cannot occupy such a difficult and responsible position for a long time, “A person cannot sit on this ‘hot frying pan’ for long — he will burn out.”
Addressing the new Government, the President reiterated the need to build relations between the deputy prime ministers and the blocs they oversee, “Know that we have a country ahead of us. The main burden in the Government is on the deputy prime ministers, so let them build contacts in their respective blocs and move forward. There is no need to divide anything, I will be watching closely to make sure that you do not go into someone else’s area.”

Based on materials of sb.by and belta.by