Lukashenko sets goals for new Deputy Prime Minister
Import substitution is the number one issue – as stated today by Aleksandr Lukashenko during his working meeting with new Deputy Prime Minister Piotr Parkhomchik
The President noted that sanctions prompted to actively engage in this topic, “There’s no need to disregard any markets: if we can work in the West let’s do it in the West, in the South, North, East. Wherever we and our products are needed, we have to work there. Do we have a gigantic economy like Russia? No, our economy is compact. What we manufacture is needed everywhere: both food and mineral fertilisers. This is especially relevant now in order to prevent hunger worldwide. The West will buy fertilisers. No markets should be abandoned.”
Another topic that the President draws attention to is the implementation of major investment projects. In particular, as Aleksandr Lukashenko noted, a ‘small tail’ remained in Mozyr and at Naftan, “We must seriously take up these issues and complete them. It’s necessary to put an end to this red tape. Moreover, we must tackle these issues fundamentally. Moreover, the BelNPP should start working at full capacity.”
The Head of State also recalled the topic of bus production at Minsk Automobile Works (MAZ), “It’s a very promising area, we do not have time to satisfy the demand. Therefore, do everything that is needed for MAZ; it is necessary to develop bus production.”
The Belarusian leader mentioned his recent visit to a plant manufacturing sheet metal and tinplate: MMPZ-Group JSC, “It’s a good enterprise, it can work. We know what needs to be done there, we also need to use it more actively.”
Aleksandr Lukashenko also said that he was going to get acquainted with the production of leather raw materials in the near future, and therefore instructed Piotr Parkhomchik to look at this area together with the Bellegprom Concern, “It’s a very useful production nowadays. The market capacity is huge, but you have to tighten up. This is not the production of BelAZ trucks and their sale, but raw leather which needs to be refined and sold with a high added value. All decisions have been made in this direction, it’s necessary just to see how they are being implemented.”
It is also necessary to pay attention to new projects, primarily at Grodno Azot and the Svetlogorsk Pulp and Board Mill, where everything must be brought to perfection, “So that we don’t sell semi-finished products, but sell finished goods and provide ourselves with cardboard and packaging. We need to invest in what we can do… That is, we need to deepen those areas that today give an effect and enjoy demand in the markets,” the President underlined.
