OREANDA-NEWS. April 21, 2009. The corporization of Gomselmash has been rescheduled from 2009 to 2011, Lyudmila Belousova, Head of the State Property Department of the Belarusian Industry Ministry, said at the international conference “Privatisation and market liberalisation in Belarus” on April 17.

Gomselmash has been removed from the list of companies to be incorporated this year. BelAZ, Integral, Vityas and others are still on the list. Mainly machine-tool producers of the Industry Ministry such as Kuzlitmash, MZOR, MZAL are scheduled for corporization in 2010.

At present 310 economic entities, including 145 national unitary enterprises, 123 joint-stock companies, which were set up on the basis of 40 private unitary enterprises, are accountable to the Industry Ministry. Thus far the Industry Ministry has converted 40% of state property enterprises into private property ones.

Last year’s privatisation plan included 51 organisations. Out of them 35 joint-stock companies were created. The Ministry’s policy envisages integration of daughter enterprises and the parent enterprise into one joint-stock company. This is why 51 enterprises produced 35 joint-stock companies, explained Lyudmila Belousova.

This year’s privatisation plan includes 53 organisations of the Industry Ministry. Since 1991 and up till now 233 enterprises of the Industry Ministry have been incorporated. They were converted using different privatisation scenarios: 29 enterprises were bought out by their personnel, 193 — converted into open joint-stock companies, 11 — sold through auctions.

The Industry Ministry representative remarked, over the entire reformation history investors started privatisation of companies for the sake of converting them into joint-stock companies only three times. Mogilev Metallurgical Plant was one of them. The investor US company Boston Trade Connection Inc received 38.8% of the authorised fund. When Belaruskabel was founded, the investor Belelectrotelecom received 9.14% of the authorised fund when the company was privatised. As a founder the Belarusian light industry concern Bellegprom received the controlling interest in SKTB Ritm.

The Industry Ministry is interested in privatisation of the state property, underscored Lyudmila Belousova, but increasing the production effectiveness must be the main goal of the process. “In our denationalization efforts we have prevented the breakdown of large industrial enterprises and corporations, we have preserved their economic potential. We are designing the reformation programme around the idea that the industry should be preserved, new manufacturing structures with more economic power and a better competitive ability on the home and foreign markets should be created,” she remarked. It is also important that privatisation is accomplished not by breakdown of enterprises but by perfection of their economic functioning.