President makes new appointments and takes personnel-related decisions

On 21 February the President of the Republic of Belarus made some new appointments and took a number of personnel-related decisions. The head of state made the following appointments:

The President has also appointed:

“All of us will have to accomplish very serious tasks before the end of the five-year term. I once said that we should exceed the pre-crisis financial level within a year, one year and a half at the outside. We cannot but do it because we position ourselves as a self-sufficient country that can do something," Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he appointed several heads of regional government bodies on 21 February.

“The average salary of $500 is a very low level that we should overcome. It is a task for everyone. I tell you this because we are starting to put pressure on local level government bodies from the top,” the head of state stressed.

According to the President, regional government bodies should learn ways to earn money taking into account local conditions. “Money should be sought and earned everywhere. Then we will be able to considerably exceed that level of revenues of the population. You should have a single plan to follow – the plan to reach that level,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

Every enterprise should have its own plan for modernizing and enhancing production facilities. “Tell them right away: don’t petition government agencies for money. Seek money in your own area,” the President warned. “Every enterprise should have a plan to earn money and advance people to the relevant level of salaries and revenues while government executives should have a serious plan to develop territories and earn state budget revenues,” he added.

“Money will be the key indicator of our performance, primarily manufacturing. These are very serious tasks that starting this year you will have to accomplish. I have set these tasks before the government. Today ministers will start monitoring the enterprises that answer to them,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

The head of state urged heads of local government agencies not to separate enterprises into their own and republican ones. “Those are your companies. You control everything there while ministers should help you give a boost to the development of an enterprise if it is a republican property,” the President stressed.

Addressing Vyacheslav Beskosty, who was appointed Ambassador in Nigeria, the head of state noted that Belarus starts to expand on the African continent. “You know that we have weak presence there. Even in the countries where we have embassies, we have not achieved much. But we are beginning to work very seriously. The interest in Belarus is big there. We have already sent out feelers. There is good deal of work outstanding, and we are looking for anchor points. Our Embassy in Nigeria will be one of them. You must be prepared to expand activities. If we implement two or three projects in Nigeria, this will be more than enough for starters. But you will have to keep in mind the neighboring states where we too may launch a couple of serious projects,” the head of state said.

With regard to cooperation with Asian countries, the head of state noted that things seem good for Belarus there: “We have secured our presence almost everywhere. We recently appointed our ambassador to Indonesia. Well, maybe we have not reached Australia yet, but I think this is a matter of time. In Asia we have good positions, and we have enough forces there.” There are good prospects for further cooperation with Japan.

The cooperation strategy with Latin America has been finalized. An emphasis is placed on big countries, like Venezuela and Brazil. Belarus also seeks to expand ties with Argentina.

“We should have a reserve and diversify our foreign policy. Therefore, we open embassies in big and famous countries, like Nigeria. We have an open and export-oriented economy. Cooperation is the only option we have,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

Addressing Sergei Kondratyev, who was appointed judge and Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Court, Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that he sees no special problems in the judicial system of Belarus. “Judges follow the law. What sanctions against judges are they talking about? Therefore, I have no complaints about the Belarusian judges and you should know that I very carefully protect our judicial system from any interference with its operation. It is inadmissible to break the existing judicial system in Belarus”.