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Surprising moves to help Belarusian industrial enterprises overcome Western sanctions
MINSK, 23 September (BelTA) – Enterprises run by the Belarusian Industry Ministry are working on ways to handle the pressure of sanctions. In particular, design bureaus are actively looking for replacements of imported components that some Western countries used to supply, BelTA learned from Belarusian Industry Minister Piotr Parkhomchik after Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko met with top Industry Ministry officials on 23 September.
The industry minister said: “Yes, everything European countries are doing with regard to our industrial enterprises is unpleasant. But the situation can give a nudge and present an opportunity for our enterprises to review import substitution and technical solutions. In other words, they could replace the components from those, who have given us a certain challenge. And today our design offices are working to accomplish such goals. I wouldn’t like to disclose our technical plans but we are going to surprise you and the general public.”
“There is no doubt that industrial enterprises of Belarus will manage to overcome the sanctions,” Piotr Parkhomchik is convinced.
The industry minister described the overall situation as manageable. According to Piotr Parkhomchik, Belarusian industrial enterprises hit all the performance targets in January-September 2021 and demonstrated a very high merchandise export growth rate – about 139%. “The president has given instructions to preserve the volumes of production and export at the level reached in January-June despite all the complications of the current moment. In other words, in H2 2021 we have to double the results of Belarus’ industrial enterprises. We have no doubt we will be able to accomplish this task,” the industry minister believes.
Piotr Parkhomchik stressed that Belarusian industrial enterprises are working as usual. In his words, information about strikes and walkouts can be found only in a handful of Telegram channels.
The average salary at enterprises run by the Industry Ministry varies from Br1,350 to Br1,400. “It will be about Br1,400-1,450 by the end of the year. In other words, it will rise a bit,” Piotr Parkhomchik noted. The minister mentioned the timely payment of salaries and tangible employment benefits as important factors for the workers in addition to the size of the salaries. “I think any commercial entities can envy this package of employment benefits, including Russian companies and other foreign ones… Because a lot of aid is provided by various means. Young professionals can get financial aid for housing construction. There are also healthcare benefits. A number of aspects are connected to personnel training. All of it is financed by the enterprises,” Piotr Parkhomchik pointed out.
As for the enterprises affected by Western sanctions, the head of state pointed out that their workers do not have to be affected. The industry minister noted that certain steps to provide additional safeguards to the workers had already been made. “I am not going to specify the sum but the government has signed the relevant paperwork and roadmaps have been passed. And these enterprises have been granted cheap resources to address these issues,” Piotr Parkhomchik said.
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