Snopkov: to increase the efficiency of exports, it is necessary to centralize the work of state-owned enterprises

May 24, MINSK . To increase the efficiency of exports, it is necessary to centralize the work of state-owned enterprises. This was stated by First Deputy Prime Minister Nikolai Snopkov at a joint meeting of the House of Representatives and the Council of the Republic, BelTA has learned.

According to him, one of the important tasks for 2023 is to make the transition from a situational and adaptive decision-making model to long-term development and increase the return on capital used, thereby increasing the competitiveness of enterprises and the economy as a whole. "The following steps are needed for this. The first is the centralization of the work of state enterprises in order to increase the efficiency of exports in such sectors as agricultural engineering, light industry, woodworking and others. In general, a rigid management vertical with a single decision-making center is the recipe that is necessary for real sectors of the economy.

The second direction is in-depth processing of domestic raw materials. “We must EXPORT the final product, and not an intermediate one like skimmed MILK powder or half-carcasses of beef . on behalf of the government of a strategy to deepen the processing of raw materials, which include milk , wood, flax, rapeseed, peat and others.

Nikolai Snopkov

The third direction is the development of the mineral resource base. "There are opportunities in the republic to organize new production of ABS plastics, soda ash, and PVC in the future using the existing technological and raw material base. These products are in demand in mechanical engineering, metallurgical, construction and other industries. They are imported annuallyis about $ 200-220 million. The implementation of projects creates potential opportunities for obtaining a wide range of intermediate and additional commercial products - polycarbonate, styrene, acetone, phenol bisphenol A, caustic soda, chlorine, hydrogen, benzene, ethylbenzene, baking soda. This will allow expanding and diversifying the commodity basket, including the petrochemical complex of the republic, involving previously unused mineral deposits in economic activity and creating large-scale industrial production, which will also allow efficient use of the electricity generated by the BelNPP, Nikolai Snopkov emphasized. “These tasks are included in the development strategies of the relevant industries and will be considered at a meeting of the Council of Ministers.”

Fourth, the juxtaposition of industrial interests with CHINA. "As part of the state visit of the President of Belarus to the PRC in March this year, a comprehensive strategy for the joint industrial development of the Republic of Belarus and the PRC was signed. It was developed on the basis of the approaches of technological and industrial development of the two countries. The key task for us in this direction is to prevent a technological lag in the conditions sanctions pressure, - added the First Deputy Prime Minister. - The fifth most important element with which the government is working, - cooperation of small and medium-sized businesses with large state-owned enterprises. The goal is to involve small and medium-sized industries in cooperation with large state-owned enterprises, including in the work of state corporations being created, and to concentrate their production on import substitution to increase the localization of products. In a pilot mode, the government has worked out the mechanisms for concluding cooperation contracts between small and medium-sized enterprises with large flagships on the basis of the Belarusian Fund for Financial Support of Entrepreneurs. As a result, about 200 cooperative import-substituting contracts were concluded in 2022, which means that this potential clearly exists and is clearly underutilized."

“Scaling up cooperation with appropriate support measures and expanding the use of Belarusian industrial products makes it possible to increase localization and use the potential of private enterprises, many of which are unique not only for the market of our country, but also for the world market. The task and goal is to support those enterprises that multiply able to increase production and replace imported goods in the domestic market," Nikolay Snopkov noted.

Photo by Nikolai Petrov