OREANDA-NEWS. December 09, 2009. In 2010 Belarus needs to ensure the GDP growth at 11-13%, Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky said while introducing new Economy Minister Nikolai Snopkov to the Economy Ministry personnel, reported the press-centre of government.by.

The Prime Minister that 2010 will be a difficult year. All reserves should be tapped in to ensure the economic growth. “In 2010 GDP should increase by 11-12%, to 13%. This goal was set by the head of state so that we could reach the five-year term targets,” Sergei Sidorsky said.

According to him, in 2009 Belarus’ GDP is expected to reach the 2008 pre-crisis level.

Sergei Sidorsky noted that Belarus has set a course for innovation development, i.e. to promote profound technical upgrading to ensure a more advanced level of the economy after the crisis. Over the past four years a lot has been done on the innovation development programme.

According to him, in the future the country needs a more powerful programme and tougher requirements regarding technical upgrading in the economic sectors.

There is a need to reach a foreign trade surplus in the next several years, Prime Minister said.

“In a relatively short period of time, just several years, we need to earn a surplus in the foreign trade,” The Prime Minister said.

According to him, ministries and agencies need to step up work in this area. So far they have failed to reach the foreign trade targets which the economic staff of the country has set out before them.

Sergei Sidorsky said that investments and innovation development play an important role in reaching the foreign trade surplus. “And the main thing: there are simple and clear approaches regarding import substitution,” he said. The Prime Minister pointed to an insufficient volume of import substitution in the country. Thus, for instance, Belarus imported \\\\$358 million worth of plastic articles in January-September 2009 at a time when the country is able to produce such products itself. Besides Belarus imports engines, reduction gears, other spare parts which the country can produce itself as well.

In this respect Sergei Sidorsky believes it is necessary to accelerate the process of setting up import substituting manufactures.

According to the Prime Minister, the government closely monitors the situation with the country’s export potential and analyzes the working conditions on the markets of Russia, Ukraine, the EU and other countries in 2010. One should always take a pro-active stand in the export policy, Sergei Sidorsky says.

Talking about Belarus’ economic prospects in the Customs Union, Sergei Sidorsky said, “Belarus is very likely to start making motor cars. We have completed negotiations with China, are holding talks with Iran and have received proposals from Italy’s Fiat.”

Sergei Sidorsky underlined that these cars will be able to travel freely across the entire territory of the Customs Union. Such projects will be an important part of the import-substitution programme.

The Prime Minister underlined that Belarus needs to implement as many import-substitution programmes in the machine-building as possible: today Belarus imports 60-70% of spare parts.

The Belarusian head of government noted that the Customs Union offers great prospects for Belarus to extend its reach into new markets and promote its products. “The heads of state commissioned us with a task to establish the single economic territory within one year. We have 24 months at the most to settle all the technicalities,” Sergei Sidorsky said.

The Prime Minister stressed that only efficient projects should get state support. “By providing state support we want to achieve a brand new level of quality and get new high-quality goods,” he said.

According to Sergei Sidorsky, business planning should be improved in Belarus.

“New approaches should be found to encourage every company to show leadership qualities, the Belarusian Premier said. He explained that at present business planning is used mainly at large enterprises, though over 10,000 companies operate in Belarus and all of them should plan their work efficiently. Sergei Sidorsky commissioned the Economy Ministry with a task to reorganize the work on business planning to involve all the enterprises of the real sector of the Belarusian economy.

According to Sergei Sidorsky, big preferences have been provided to small and medium-sized business. The share of small and medium-sized business in GDP is expected to increase significantly in Belarus. Promising areas are roadside business, agro-and-eco tourism and others.
At the same time the Prime Minister urged to continue the work on relaxing administrative procedures, accounting. To help small business with selling domestic products, we need to construct more wholesale warehouses, Sergei Sidorsky said.

According to Prime Minister, Belarus should seek to make it to the Top-10 of best countries for doing business.

According to Sergei Sidorsky, this year much has been done to promote economic liberalization, and this work will be continued. “We have made good progress in international rankings made by international institutions,” the Prime Minister said. Sergei Sidorsky said he takes these assessments easy: today you can have good positions in the ratings and go down tomorrow. Therefore we should never stop. We need to have the process of liberalization under permanent control, Sergei Sidorsky said.

“Today Belarus seeks to get into the Top-30 of best countries for doing business. But we need to aim for Top-10 in 2011-2015,” Sergei Sidorsky said.