Top government officials to meet with business association representatives this month :: Charter'97 :: News

Top officials with the Council of Ministers and the Presidential Administration will meet with representatives of business associations on February 14 to discuss steps to liberalize rules for the private sector.

As Alyaksandr Patupa, chairman of the Belarusian Union of Entrepreneurs (BUE), told BelaPAN, it is the government that has invited business representatives to the negotiating table, which he said gives cause for cautious optimism. The meeting is expected to be attended by Henadz Nyavyhlas, head of the Presidential Administration, the Administration`s Deputy Heads Natallya Pyatkevich and Leanid Anfilaw, and Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Kabyakow.

Mr. Patupa said he would use the occasion to present proposals for improving the country`s much-criticized business environment. "A set of serious measures aimed at the intensive and systemic liberalization of the economy are needed," he stressed. "With the price of energy resources rising, the private sector in fact remains the government`s only opportunity to avert an economic collapse. Certain regulations need to be adopted urgently."

The BUE head emphasized the importance of a presidential directive that would set out steps to develop the private sector. "I hope that the proposals prepared by us will serve as a starting program in the sphere of enterprise. And much work, above all in the removal of administrative hurdles, is ahead," Mr. Patupa said.

While speaking at a government conference in Navapolatsk on January 23, Mr. Anfimaw chided officials for ignoring private businesses and suggested giving ailing state-run companies to private hands. "Government officials have not yet learned to work with investors in an efficient and prompt manner and assist the development of the private initiative. As a result, disregard for private businesses is not infrequently felt," he noted.