Opinions & Interviews

In her words, she made this conclusion from the very first minutes in Belarus. “We crossed the border and I said: OK, this is an absolutely different quality of roads here. But I have heard about Belarusian roads before. But tell me why there is no garbage on the roadsides. You can see it pretty often in Ukraine. Why is that? Because people take care of their land. Perhaps, not everything starts from the President. A lot start from us, ordinary people,” the journalist believes. The Ukrainian guest noted that this conveys a suggestion that maybe we do not do everything right in our home in Ukraine, starting from little things.

Valentina Manzhura was interested in the symbiosis of the economic constituent: the planned nature of the economy and creativity of the authorities and management. “The companies we have visited make decent products, and the fact that these companies are state-run does not make it worse. No one talks about the dividends the owner gets. These companies make the product, create the national wealth, the gross domestic product, transfer funds for welfare payments,” Valentina Manzhura said.

Enterprises operate which means that the economy works creating a social package, which rules out any social tension in the society, the journalist stressed. “I made sure once again that the main thing is not about who owns a company but in the fact how this owner is able to manage it,” she said.

The Ukrainian delegation comprised nearly 30 journalists representing nationwide and regional TV channels and printed sources. Reporters came from Kiev, Lviv, Kirovograd, Cherkasy, Poltavy, Donetsk and other oblasts. The program of the press tour included a visit to a number of industrial companies and social infrastructure facilities. Ukrainian guests paid a visit to Spartak Confectionary, OAO Komintern, the National Center of Radiation Medicine and Human Ecology, and also met with the local authorities and representatives of the Gomelskaya Pravda newspaper.