Alyaksandr Lukashenko, during today’s meeting on the development of the southeastern region of the Mogilev Region, admitted to officials that he does not know what to prepare for. In this way, he sought to mobilize them for new achievements.
“We need to mobilize now in order to get through this difficult time. And it is an uncertain time. As President, I do not know what to prepare you for. We are working in order to live. One slogan: ‘We work in order to live.’ Not simply to survive, but to live. And what comes next? Nobody knows what will happen, what the powerful of this world will throw at us,” Lukashenko was quoted as saying by his press service.
As usual, he focused on the economy.
“Creating conditions for citizens, and only then the economy. Guys, it will not work like that. We have already spoiled our people. If there is an economy, people will live normally. The economy and production come first. If there is production, people will work, there will be salaries, and people will live better. But we have a very strong dependency mentality,” he said.
“People need to understand how we are going to act further while the current President remains in office. A new President will come — how will he prove himself? Will there be the same authority of power as now? Therefore, now we need to do what we must do. We need to speed up, we need to act. We need to create a country that we will hand over to future generations,” he added.
Earlier, Lukashenko twice issued decrees on the development of the territories of the Krichev, Klimovichi, Krasnopolie, Kostyukovichi, Slavgorod, Cherikov and Khotimsk districts of the Mogilev Region. Relevant programs were adopted in 2015 and 2020.
During this period, according to the Mogilev Regional Executive Committee, investment in fixed assets in these districts amounted to 3.2 billion rubles. A cement-bonded particle board plant was built in the Krichev district, pig breeding complexes and breeding centers in the Slavgorod and Klimovichi districts, rainbow trout farming complexes in the Krasnopolie and Khotimsk districts, and a fish farming complex producing fertilized rainbow trout roe in the Cherikov district. A new five-year program is now being proposed.
Assessing the results of the previous programs, Lukashenko said the outcome was not what he had expected.
“Unfortunately, we almost ruined seven districts. We ruined a lot, but these districts need to be revived. You were given five years. But this is not the result I personally expected. We will probably define a five-year program for the southeast, but it must be absolutely specific,” he said.
He believes that this time the program must be as specific as possible.
“The biggest shortcoming is that in the program we define only conceptual directions for action. Concept, theory and other directions of action… But what is needed, as in the most difficult and not-so-difficult Soviet times, is a plan,” he said.
Before the meeting, he visited the fish farm “Paluzh.” Lukashenko liked the enterprise. As usual, he proposed replicating it as widely as possible.
“Perhaps one of the ideas is not to invent anything new, but to build more than one such fish farm in the southeast. Taking into account the small amount of resources and the fact that we have already learned from mistakes at this construction site, we know how to build,” he said.
“We are potato eaters, we eat potatoes. But potatoes need fish. Not only meat and milk,” Lukashenko added.
According to him, the regional executive committee should instruct district executive committee chairmen to work on development, and “they must move on the ground and be responsible for specific plans.”
Lukashenko also asked how realistic the proposed plans were.
“For this we will find the appropriate credit resources. There is no such thing as free money, guys. You are managers, you understand that. But these must be affordable credit resources. We have such an opportunity — not only for you in the southeast, but throughout the country, where we will implement this program and other fast-payback programs — to allocate inexpensive resources, but they must be repaid.
We will help you with financing. These will be affordable, repayable loans. Maybe some investors will take the risk and invest. If I were an investor and had money, I would gladly invest in such enterprises. The profitability is very decent. It is a compact, normal business,” he said.
