Meeting with Council of Ministers

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko convened a meeting with the Council of Ministers on 14 June to discuss a number of urgent fundamental economic issues.

High on the agenda was the issue related to efficient operation of pellet production facilities. The head of state opened the meeting by saying that significant pellet production capacities had been created in the country, which made it possible to involve low-grade wood and woodworking waste in production. “We can produce one million tonnes of pellets per year,” the President said.

A lot of investment, both public and private, have been injected in the sector. However, as Aleksandr Lukashenko pointed out, pellet production is not working to its full capacity right now due to the well-known external circumstances, with stockpiles of low-grade business wood growing. “The measures taken by the government have not yielded any results yet,” the head of state said.

The President stressed: “If the production facilities have been launched, they need to be working to make profits, not losses. Any emerging issues should be solved in a comprehensive and consistent manner.”

It was decided at the recent government meeting on industrial matters that all issues related to the operation of pellet production facilities should be solved before the new heating season. It is time to check what has been done and see how these plans are being implemented, the head of state emphasized.

Aleksandr Lukashenko asked the government what were the prospects of pellet production in the country and what had been done to find new sales markets and supply schemes. The head of state was also interested in whether the use of this product in the domestic market was increasing, and what decisions had been made to encourage households to use more pellets.

The operation of agricultural services became the second issue discussed at the meeting of the President with the Council of Ministers. There are 134 such organizations across the country. They provide agricultural, transportation, repair and other services.

Aleksandr Lukashenko recalled that in 2019 unprecedented support was provided to the parent company - Belagroservice - by restructuring the debt to the budget. In this regard, the head of state once again emphasized that there should be a strict discipline of account settlements. “Without it, we will continue to go around in circles, constantly returning to these issues,” he said.

The third important issue concerned the project to develop a satellite communication and broadcasting system.

According to the head of state, the communications satellite was launched in 2016 and it has been successfully fulfilling its functions since its launch and the commissioning of the ground complex. The President named the project commercialization and its payback as the main task for the current moment.

In 2020, the head of state adopted an order to define the procedure for the fulfillment of financial obligations under the project to develop the national satellite communications and broadcasting system of the Republic of Belarus. The government suggests adjustments to the document.