Sidorski: “What a shame. Officials are doing sod all”

Premier Minister of Belarus Syarhei Sidorski sternly demanded officials to attract foreign investments to the country.

“Officials are doing sod all to attract foreign investments to the country. They don’t care about it, they prefer to shelter having good salaries,” S. Sidorski said at a session of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers on Wednesday when considering an issue on investment process on the results of nine months 2008.

“You must understand we can’t survive without investments, without new projects. But no, I see only red-tapery – some figures, officials are writing something to each other,” the premier said.

S. Sidorski said it was shame for him when at the investment forum in London, he had to settle questions with possible foreign investors who are ready to invest in Belarus but haven’t found support in governing bodies. “What a shame. At London investment forum, more than 30 biggest world companies formed a queue to tell me that our ministries don’t work,” S. Sidorski told.

He mentioned a situation with Caterpillar, the world’s biggest manufacturer of heavy trucks company (US), as an instance.

Caterpillar has been fencing around the minister of industry and suggesting joint projects with BelAZ for 8 months, but the minister says he doesn’t need it though the investor is ready for cooperation and joint strategy of market development, S. Sidorski noted. According to him, the investor is surprised and waiting for a concrete answer of the Belarusian party.

Addressing the Ministry of Economy, the prime minister said it must “begin to do real work”. “The Ministry of Economy suggests ideas that were acute yesterday,” S. Sidorski states.

According to the prime minister, the current situation can be explained by officials’ fear of responsibility. “Executives are afraid of responsibility, they prefer to introduce questions for investors for the nearest two years and delay adoption of decisions,” the prime minister emphasised noting that “investors have to visit different officials in their cabinets”.

The prime minister also stressed that not only industry governing bodies but also local authorities do not fulfil recommendations of the government on attracting foreign investments. “Local authorities do not fulfil the decision of the government on attracting foreign investments to utilities enterprises but hide behind figures of the free economic zones,” he said.

S. Sidorski stated, “Utilities industry its investment task and fulfilled only 30 per cent of the targets f the government.” He emphasised that it is needed to get attracting foreign investments activities to free economic zones out of common standard regions.