Report on personnel policy in Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko heard a report on the personnel policy in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Attending the meeting were Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko, Head of the Presidential Administration Dmitry Krutoi, KGB Chairman Ivan Tertel and Minister of Foreign Affairs Maksim Ryzhenkov.

The head of state suggested discussing the personnel policy in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs system in order to coordinate the work in connection with the arrival of the new minister. "I am sure that there will be certain adjustments, reshuffles in the ministry itself. Therefore, it is very important to make up our minds in this regard. I want to say right away that, like no other ministry, the MFA should have the most careful attitude to personnel," Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “In general, this is how it should be in the country. But the ministry is a special body. Personnel are very important. So is the careful attitude to it."

On personnel policy criteria

Anticipating the discussion of personnel proposals made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Aleksandr Lukashenko advised to proceed primarily from the criteria of professionalism and reliability.

The President described Maksim Ryzhenkov as a good professional and experienced specialist who went through it all. "But he still has this trait: he likes to work with people he is comfortable with.  But, with time he will understand that ‘comfortable’ is not always a good idea. Professionalism must be the number one criteria. Professionals organize work and give the result. I have already had some experience: you appoint ‘comfortable’ people and then you don't know what to do with them," the President said.

"The people working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs must be loyal and devoted to the motherland. We must not face the situation as we did in the past," the Belarusian leader added.

Aleksandr Lukashenko also suggested giving people a second chance: "When I became President, I did not proceed from the fact that I should appoint my own people everywhere. Even the people who worked in the campaigns of alternative candidates and who fought against me as hard as they could retained their jobs and held higher positions later. They worked well for the state. I gave everyone a chance. A year and a half later, some ran away in that difficult situation; we part ways with some others. Therefore, you need to be very smart as you build your team. We must understand that professional people do not appear out of thin air."

In terms of personnel policy, Aleksandr Lukashenko highlighted the special role of the President Administration that should be a real filter before making proposals to the President.

The head of state noted that he was offered to consider a number of diplomatic appointments for the CIS and other countries. "We agreed to reshape our policies. If the Europeans or Americans do not want to cooperate with us, why we should appoint diplomats there? To guard the embassy building?” the Belarusian leader. "We have reshaped out focus on our main trade markets: the CIS and geographically more distant countries."

Speaking about the selection of personnel for the CIS countries, the head of state recalled that various personnel rotations are taking place now, including in the light of the elections. "We have just appointed a new head of Belaruskali. Ivan Golovaty [the former head of the enterprise] is now available. He is an experienced, sensible manager," Aleksandr Lukashenko gave an example. “These people should be used on the external track within the CIS. They all know Russian and the CIS countries speak Russian too."

"When it comes to geographically more distant countries and so on, people should know a foreign language. At least they should speak English. But this does not mean that the English language proficiency is a smooth road. No, he must be a professional, he must be a person devoted to his people and state."

On growing demand on foreign markets

“We have adjusted our foreign policy in the light of the severe fascist sanctions imposed on our state. As I once said we must disregard the sanctions,” the Belarusian leader said. “We have reoriented our trade and economic activities. We are not a huge state. Yes, we sell a lot in relation to what we produce. Yet these are not huge volumes.”

For example, Belarus exports large volumes of food products, as the demand for food keeps growing in the world. “We just need to offer it in time where the demand is growing. As for traditional markets, the demand is big in Russia, the People's Republic of China, even in the European Union. They are still ready to buy our rapeseed oil (this is a large share of our exports) and they continue buying it. No one refuses to import it. This means we need to work hard in order to sell our products to the markets, which are ready to buy our products,” the Belarusian leader stressed.

According to Aleksandr Lukashenko Belarus is now tapping into the markets of the faraway countries. “This is food. In order to get meat, milk – food products - you need mineral fertilizers and machinery. Learn from Russians how to sell civilian and military goods in one package: “If you want to buy this, we will sell it to you, but you need to buy this product as well.” This is also one of the important areas of work,” the head of state said.

Here, he mentioned the Belarusian agricultural machinery, mineral fertilizers and other goods.

“There is an immense market that keeps growing today. It is Asia. We have turned our focus to developing markets in Africa, Latin America. Whichever heads of state I meet, they are very eager to cooperate with us. Especially since we have been actively working in both the SCO and BRICS,” the President stressed.

On main task for Ministry of Foreign Affairs

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs should primarily prioritize trade and economic relations. Trade, trade and more trade. And only then go high-level meetings, representative functions and others, then politics and diplomacy. Our foreign policy and diplomacy should be focused on trade and economic cooperation. Nowadays, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is engaged in all these areas," the President said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasized that issues of promoting trade and economic relations and personnel selection remain in the remit of Roman Golovchenko, who has first-hand experience of working in the ministry. "Roman Aleksandrovich [Golovchenko], this task remains in your purview as the most important one. As far as staffing is concerned, today a former ambassador holds the post of head of the President Administration. As an economist, he knows manufacturing process well and understands what we should do. In this regard, the minister of foreign affairs has to work in a very competitive environment because there are only professionals around. There are people who have worked in the system of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This is good," the head of state said.