Belarusian People’s Congress

MOGILEV, 22 June (BelTA) – Focus on innovations in modernizing the economy will give Belarus a competitive edge on the global market. The statement was made by Alla Bogatenko, Head of the Economy Office of the Mogilev City Executive Committee, as she commented on the speech Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko made during the fifth Belarusian People’s Congress on 22 June, BelTA has learned.

The Belarus president clearly outlined vectors for the perspective development of the economy such as modernization of the production sector by focusing on creating innovative, science-intensive, and competitive products. “We should enable a prompt transition of the production sector to the next technological paradigm. Through reliance on investments we should make the national economy innovative at its core. It will give the country a competitive edge. It will put us one step ahead. It will secure the dynamic development of the economy. In the end it will allow raising living standards of the Belarusians,” believes Alla Bogatenko.

In her words, in the previous five-year term a lot was invested in the comprehensive modernization of enterprises and organizations of the real sector of the economy. The efforts represent a solid foundation for a new leap forward. For instance, over Br20 trillion has been invested in renewing the basic production assets of the Mogilev city industrial complex. As a result, Mogilev has managed to increase industrial output by more than four times.

As a vivid example of the comprehensive approach to modernizing manufacturing facilities Alla Bogatenko mentioned OAO Mogilevkhimvolokno, which has implemented nine major projects worth over Br450 billion in the last five years. As far as mechanical engineering companies are concerned, OAO Mogilevliftmash works steadily and most fruitfully in this regard. The company has implemented investment projects worth Br400 billion to start making a new generation of lifts. Another Br137 billion has been spent on retooling the main manufacturing division of the textile industry leader OAO Mogotex. The dairy company Babushkina Krynka is the leader in terms of retooling among the companies that process agricultural products. In the period Babushkina Krynka invested about Br1.5 trillion in modernization.

The retooling of the industrial complex has positively influenced foreign trade operations. The results indicate interest in Mogilev on the part of foreign partners. However, taking into account the destabilization of the Russian market in 2015 and the rather rapidly changing situation on markets of other countries the last year of the five-year term saw a decrease in the export of merchandise and services. “Nevertheless, Mogilev city enterprises are intent on racking up their output, selling more on traditional markets, penetrating new target markets, and diversifying export. These efforts as well as modernization represent top-priority tasks for Mogilev exporters in the near future,” said Alla Bogatenko.