OREANDA-NEWS. July 29, 2013. President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko made a number of personnel decisions.

The head of state appointed:

Valery Ivanov  Deputy Head of the Belarus President Administration
Alexander Krot  First Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Certification Commission

The President approved the appointment of:
Yelena Kudryavets  Director General of Belarusian Potash Company
Andrei Gorbachev  Head of the Tsentralny District Administration of Gomel
Viktor Doroshevich  Chairman of the Chechersk District Executive Committee
Alexander Poznyak  Head of the Sovetsky District Administration of Minsk
Oleg Golovchits  Chairman of the Lyuban District Executive Committee
Igor Kachanovsky  Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection
Vasily Sedin  Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food
Alexei Avramenko  Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications
Natalia Zhamoitina  Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications
Leonid Shenets  First Deputy Energy Minister
Valery Kulakovsky  Deputy Justice Minister

Addressing Yelena Kudryavets, Alexander Lukashenko stressed that she is well aware of the situation in the potash industry. The President remarked that “it involves not only potash fertilizers, but also trade, on the global scale at that. It is big-time politics, nothing like simply buying and reselling as is the custom of ours”.

“You are an active member of the commission that studied the overall situation in the potash market. You have analyzed the performance of Belarusian Potash Company that sells potash fertilizers to Belarus and the Russian Federation. Moreover, you know very well how our manufacturer and the Russian one are doing. And I believe that specialists like you, who have a firm grasp of sales of potash fertilizers, are few in Belarus,” the head of state said.

“We will transfer Valery Ivanov to some other position. We do not seem to have any complaints about his performance but he is having a hard time working in this area because he had never worked in this industry before,” the President said. “Therefore, we will use his experience here, inside the country. He will be appointed to a new position,” he added.

“In no way should we lose the Russian company because we are more powerful, we are the most powerful company as far as sales of potash fertilizers are concerned, provided we work together with Russians. But of course you cannot forget about Belarusian interests because there is a private company on the other side. Both the state and the private owner sometimes have slightly different goals. Nevertheless, we want to sell as much as possible and at the highest possible price just like they do. It is natural and our key interests coincide. We have to take control over all the flows and look at prices,” the head of state noted.

Alexander Lukashenko also ordered to take a closer look at the personnel issue in Belarusian Potash Company.

Addressing heads of local executive bodies, the President emphasized that they should increase their involvement in the country’s development and should be more in touch with people. Alexander Lukashenko acknowledged the lack of engagement on the part of chairmen of district executive committees and town administrations although a decision was made to strengthen the power vertical in the country.

The head of state warned local authorities against getting involved in corruption.

“We have launched a policy to strengthen order, honesty and justice (we maintain an unwavering focus on these matters and have always strived to enhance honesty and justice; we regularly hold anti-corruption campaigns and have zero-tolerance to corrupt officials). I just want to reiterate that we will not condone it. I will not bail you out and let you get away with crime. This is a principled position. I strongly recommend you to keep it in mind,” Alexander Lukashenko underlined.