Meeting with senior officials of Belarus President Administration

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Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko met with senior officials of the Belarus President Administration on 23 June.

At the beginning of the meeting the head of state emphasized that many issues require extensive discussion at the level of the President. One of them is the state of affairs in the housing and utilities sector. A decision was made to improve this sector on the example of Minsk, the President reminded. “We should hold such a session in the near future to inform the entire country about our plan of action in this field and about the prospects for developing the housing and utilities sector. Of course, there should be serious optimization, it is needed to deal with the prime cost to ensure low tariffs for the population,” the head of state said.

For this purpose, it is needed to improve the situation in the housing and utilities sector and the style of work in this segment. “I want to remind that the current mayor of Minsk was appointed because he had been the housing and utilities minister before. He was instructed to put Minsk in ideal order so that this city can be used as an example for other housing and utilities organizations in the country,” the head of state said.

It is also needed to put priorities straight in education. “We should dot all the i's in August and determine the period of time during which we will solve remaining issues. For example, with school books. When, where, and in what volume will we prepare and publish new books? It is also needed to solve other issues,” the Belarusian leader said.

There are many issues in agriculture. However, these issues will be discussed in detail later. “We have agreed that we will revise this problem in autumn after the harvesting campaign,” the head of state said.

The promotion of entrepreneurship is also important. “We should discuss this matter and adopt a decision at the level of the President. This matter is being dealt with. As far as I know, Valery Mitskevich [Deputy Head of the Belarus President Administration] is monitoring the progress. I know that the government has considered these matters. We should hold a session at the level of the President and adopt a corresponding decision,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

He also wondered how the work of the Belarus President Administration is structured now. “I believe that the Belarus President Administration is past the period of establishment of this work. We may now have to talk about some changes and ways to improve the style of this work. This is why I would like to hear your opinions in that regard. I would like to know whether that period is over or not and whether there are any issues resulting from it,” the Belarusian leader said.

At the meeting the head of state also mentioned the importance of work with people. In his opinion, the Belarus President Administration should use individual approach in dealing with issues of concern for people.

The meeting also focused on the training and selection of administrative personnel. It was noted that the Academy of Public Administration under the aegis of the Belarusian President plays a serious role in the process. However, this sector needs reforms today.

Aleksandr Lukashenko added that there are many other important issues. The entire power vertical should participate in government conferences chaired by the President every quarter of the year in order to discuss the resolution of the most important problems. “We are going to discuss serious matters concerning the development of the entire country such as agriculture and utilities. Come to think of it, education is a matter of national importance, too. This is why we should make decisions on these topics,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

How these conferences will proceed has yet to be determined. “We may resume the practice of dedicating one day to personnel training with an emphasis on one specific matter and dedicating the next day to discussing things, sharing impressions, raising issues and resolving them right there and then if possible. If it was not possible, we came up with plans to address the unearthed problems in the past. We should think about how we are going to arrange such events,” the President said.

There are three “staffs” in the country. The Belarus President Administration takes care of politics. The government takes care of economy, while the Security Council is in charge of the nation’s security. It is necessary to decide how often the important matters these bodies are responsible for will be elevated to the level of the President, the Belarusian leader pointed out.

At the meeting Aleksandr Lukashenko listened to the reports of the head and deputy heads of the Belarus President Administration, aides to the president. They laid out their vision of the situation in the areas of their responsibility.

The head of state gave an instruction to hold such meeting on a regular basis to discuss all pending issues and make necessary decisions.