Lukashenko to officials: get out of your warm chairs and start exploring opportunities far beyond Russian market
During today’s meeting to review the draft forecast documents for 2026, President Aleksandr Lukashenko announced that there will be an expanded meeting with the Government and invited guests in the near future, where the current economic results will be discussed in detail
The Head of State pointed out, “The most important thing is that I want to understand how we have basically organised the work of the so-called ‘mobilisation economy’ (a term frequently used in the media and which sounds appropriate). Furthermore, I want this to be shown through concrete examples, without unnecessary details or broad discussions about the ‘controlled cooling of the Russian market’ being the main cause of our difficulties. If exports have declined, then we have deputy prime ministers assigned to this area with specific names. How are they and the Foreign Minister held accountable by the PM, the Government and its Presidium? The next level involves the work of sectoral ministers and our ambassadors in key countries, whom I focus solely on trade and investment projects. After that, there are directors of enterprises and their marketing departments. I emphasise again: there must be a clear vertical structure and a system. Do we have it or not? Is it functioning? Additionally, there should be digitisation of tasks and control.”
Responding to possible accusations that the President is engaged in micromanagement, Aleksandr Lukashenko stated, “I can’t focus on macro-level issues, when a war is already happening just beyond one fence, and another conflict is quickly coming closer. However, you can’t even successfully sell butter, tractors and harvesters. It’s time to get out of your comfortable chairs and cars before it’s too late and start exploring opportunities far beyond the Russian market.”
According to the President, up to now, the achievements — excluding raw commodities — have been quite modest, from China to Argentina.
“In general, we will soon analyse how our Government’s leadership is managing the sustainable development of the economy. I want to emphasise that there is still a full quarter left before the year ends. Also, stop complaining that our Government is new and has been in office for less than a year; suggesting that these issues aren’t your responsibility is neither respectable nor appropriate in the current situation. It’s simply not a strong stance.”
