Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 16 March (BelTA) – Belarus sets a high value on sharing the best practices with other countries in matters of training civil servants. The statement was made by Head of the Belarus President Administration Natalya Kochanova as she met with Rector of the Higher Cadre School of State and Government of Cuba (ESCEG) Mercedes Delgado Fernandez on 16 March, BelTA has learned.

Natalya Kochanova noted that Belarus had developed a decent system for training personnel for the civil service and the system was being constantly modernized. Now it is necessary to give a special status, to improve the operation of the Public Administration Academy under the Belarus President as the leading higher education institution in charge of training civil servants and their post-graduate education. “It is very important for us to cooperate with other countries, which have organizations, institutions that deal with the same matters. Exchanging the experience is important for us,” said the official.

Natalya Kochanova asked how this work is done at the Higher Cadre School of State and Government of Cuba. According to the head of the Belarus President Administration, the advisability of letting young Belarusians enter the Public Administration Academy right after leaving secondary school is under consideration in Belarus. “Maybe we should phase out the practice in favor of training and retraining those, who are already employed as civil servants,” explained Natalya Kochanova. At the same time some young Belarusians demonstrate leadership skills in secondary school and should be admitted to the academy there and then upon recommendations of their schools. Apart from that, work is in progress to improve education programs. Training and retraining efforts focus on studying international experience in order to enable the graduates to effectively tackle tasks in the course of advancing trade and economic relations and diversifying export.

Natalya Kochanova stressed that the head of state pays close attention to the civil servants, who work hard to implement the socially oriented policy of the state. This is why the head of the Belarus President Administration said she was confident that cooperation between the Public Administration Academy of Belarus and the Higher Cadre School of State and Government of Cuba would be effective since both countries identify the development of human resources as their top priority.

In turn, Mercedes Delgado Fernandez noted that cooperation with the Public Administration Academy of Belarus is important for the Cuban educational institution. She said she had already visited the academy, had held negotiations with its top administrators, and had managed to find a lot of contact points. The rector pointed out that Belarus and Cuba are connected not only by the socially oriented policy but also by the special peacemaking role that both countries play in their regions.

During the meeting Natalya Kochanova and Mercedes Delgado Fernandez exchanged views on a number of matters of civil service, work with executive personnel, the training of professionals in the sphere of administration, modern human resources technologies, and the improvement of the state administration system. An agreement was reached on continued cooperation between the countries in priority avenues of training of executive personnel and in sharing the best practices in the sphere of state administration.