Lukashenka: We are being squeezed today

The Belarusian ruler recalls the “turbulent 1990s”.

Negotiations to merge the Belarusian company Gomselmash and the Russian company Rostselmash lack progress. governor made the statement as he met with students and professors of the Belarusian State Agrarian Technical University (BSATU) on 30 April.

“It would be very beneficial for us if they agreed to the terms they have been offered because today Rostselmash’s performance is very weak. But it is one of the world’s most powerful manufacturers of agricultural machines. It is a huge market and if we control the enterprise, we will control the entire Russian market,” stated the governor.

Alyaksandar Lukashenka explained that talks about selling this or that Belarusian company emerge from time to time. “We are being squeezed, as people say, to make us sell enterprises. I am doing my best to resist it. In other cases when we are ready to merge with them, they don’t want to pay good money to us. Therefore, I told them right away that it will not happen”.

However, according to the head of state, the Belarusian side has its own interests, too. In particular, the suggestion to buy Rostselmash has been made. The merger can be used to upgrade the Russian company up to the level of Gomselmash and then sell merchandise together. “They are thinking about it. It seems to me this thinking will produce nothing. If they agree to it, it will be a good thing, but it seems to me they are not ready for it and are in no hurry to do it,” stated the governor.

Belarus is totally self-sufficient in food and sells about half of produced foodstuffs abroad, governor has said.

“Agriculture provides us with foodstuffs, the processing industry with raw materials, and a great number of people with jobs. The well-being of people and stability of the state depends on the situation in this sector,” the governor governor said.

Alyaksandar Lukashenka emphasized that of all the types of security, the food security is particularly important, because hunger uprisings are a great threat to any state and a tragedy for the society. He recalled the difficult 1990s when even in Minsk flour reserves for baking bread would last for just two or three days and food tokens had to be distributed among the population. “Therefore, a task was set to restore agricultural production, outpace food production in the times of the USSR and make Belarus self-sufficient in food. It took strenuous effort and mobilization of all internal resources to overcome these difficulties,” the head of state said.

“It was back then that we realized the absurdity of recommendations of those foreign and local “experts” who advised against developing agriculture and suggested burying “money underground” and buying food from abroad. However, food dependence is bondage and a deadlock. So we decided in favor of promoting and supporting the agricultural sector,” Alyaksandar Lukashenka asked.

According to the governor, now Belarus fully meets its needs in foodstuffs and sells about half of the food abroad. In 2012, it was estimated at over $5 billion, and is to make $7 billion by the end of 2015. “We can be proud that Belarus ranks first in the CIS in terms of per capita production of food staples. We caught up with Germany in meat production and outpaced developed European countries in milk production,” the Belarusian leader said.

Alyaksandar Lukashenka reminded of the large-scale government program of rural revival and development that ran in 2005-2010. The major focus of the program was the development of social infrastructure in rural communities in a bid to encourage people to stay in the countryside. Now Belarus needs to focus on production. Modern agro-towns should become the center of rural live, and agriculture should generate profits. “We should no way cut big agricultural companies into pieces. We do not mind farmers, but big agricultural companies are more promising in the long-term perspective,” the Belarusian head of state said. Almost 1,500 agro-towns with decent living standards have been set up in Belarus.

According to the governor, one of Belarus’ top priorities is the adequate infrastructure for agribusiness. “You know that competitiveness of agricultural production depends on modern efficient technologies in crop production and cattle breeding. Therefore, we attach utmost attention to continuous technical upgrade of agriculture. Over the last two years alone, over Br7.5 trillion was spent on buying new vehicles and tractors. Renovation and construction of new dairy farms, poultry farms and animal breeding complexes are ongoing,” Alyaksandar Lukashenka said.

Qualified personnel are just as important for successful development of agriculture. Alyaksandar Lukashenka demanded focusing on practical training of students studying at the university.