Report of Grodno Oblast Governor Vladimir Karanik

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko set a task to sustain economic growth in the country as a whole and each region as he met with Grodno Oblast Governor Vladimir Karanik. 

The head of state noted that he had earlier familiarized himself with the situation in the eastern regions of the country and had met with Mogilev Oblast Governor Anatoly Isachenko the day before. This conversation helped to identify a number of issues related to harvesting, among other things. “These issues are common for entire Belarus. I think, Grodno Oblast is no exception. We have thoroughly analyzed the economic situation in the region,” said Aleksandr Lukashenko.

According to the president, the region’s performance indicators in H1 leave much to be desired. “This pertains to the gross regional product and other indicators. Of course, you can say that last year’s benchmark for Grodno Oblast was higher than that for Mogilev Oblast, and thus it is more difficult for Grodno Oblast to build on that result. Yet, a task has been set and it must be fulfilled. I do not demand today that the government or the governors should grow GDP or GRP by 5-6%. The task is to maintain last year’s pace, to achieve the indicators of last year,” the Belarusian leader said.

According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, Grodno Oblast can potentially do even better. “I am afraid that in the remaining six months it will be difficult for you to improve against last year. Although anything is possible. Yet, last year’s bar must be achieved and not on paper. Indeed, it is not typical for Grodno Oblast to lose momentum even by one or half a percent. Therefore, this task is achievable for you,” the president said.

One of the main topics on the agenda of the meeting was harvesting that is already underway in Belarus. The head of state noted that the weather slightly complicated the process, including in Grodno Oblast, but there is no catastrophe about this: “You have people on the ground who know their job. And you are better prepared for harvesting than others. I am sure that you will complete it in the right way. But you should keep in mind that you will have to run several processes at a time. Winter barley, rapeseed, then you need to sow winter crops, and harvest spring cereals in time.”

The head of state paid particular attention to fodder harvesting and the second grass cutting. He noted that second cut grass is even better than the first cut grass, especially in Grodno Oblast “It is particularly noticeable in the places where you managed to feed the second cut grass in time. This will be a good stock of feed for the future. We are unlikely to have such perfect weather conditions for grasses in the future. I don’t remember that we have been so lucky with the weather before. It seems like our prayers for rain materialized. However, grass cutting is a serious concern for me as we also need to harvest grain crops and rapeseed at the same time. And this will require a lot of time and effort. Anyway, we need to do our best to harvest grass”, the president said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko believes that Grodno Oblast has everything in place to complete harvesting in a quality manner.