Region

Business forum "State and Business: Partnership for Sustainable Development" is being held in Vitebsk

As part of the Belarusian Entrepreneurship Week, a business forum “State and Business: Partnership for Sustainable Development” is being held in Vitebsk.

– One of the goals of sustainable development is partnership between business and the state. The share of investments – 35% – is formed by the entrepreneurial sector. Our business is aimed at export orientation, import substitution. Thus, today more than 90 import substitution projects are being implemented, including in cooperation with Russia. The share of small and medium-sized businesses in the export of goods is 80%, in the service sector – 65%. Small and medium businesses form a third of the budget revenues, – noted Deputy Chairman of the Regional Executive Committee Anzhelika Nikitina . – More active entrepreneurs are in small regions. They strive to keep themselves busy, involve their children, neighbors, colleagues, etc. in this process. If today Polotsk, Orsha, Vitebsk, Novopolotsk are the formation of large businesses that grow on the projects implemented within the framework of the entrepreneurship development program, then in Dubrovno, Chashniki, Rossony, Ushachi and other small cities, business in the service sector is actively developing.

Not only representatives of large businesses, but also school institutions, universities, colleges, small and micro businesses, the Belarusian Union of Women, and individual entrepreneurs take part in the forum.

- Today, they involve people in business not only from school, but also from kindergarten. Schools position the idea of ​​developing this area through the sale of their products, clubs, etc. There are quite interesting projects that are relevant for the region, given the tourism potential, opportunities for the development of light industry, - added Anzhelika Nikitina.

At the plenary session, Deputy Chairperson of the Regional Executive Committee's Economics Committee  Elena Borzdyko  spoke about the strategy for sustainable development of the Vitebsk region until 2040.
- We see the future in technologies in harmony with nature. The strategy is based on the implementation of the path of the main priorities, the main one of which is a person, in whose interests we will solve the tasks. In the real sector of the economy, this is the creation of high-tech industries, including those using raw materials, providing a decent level of wages based on the education received here in the field. This, of course, is the formation of an environment for the growth of entrepreneurial and innovative activity, - noted Elena Borzdyko. - For the sustainable development of regions, districts with a population of over 80 thousand will develop both industrial sites and create new industries. By the end of the five-year plan, 30 industries will be created within the framework of the "One Region - One Project" initiative. These are mainly food, light industry, and tourism.

In agriculture, the prospects lie in the introduction of digitalization, automation, creation of new livestock facilities, use of new technologies in crop production, which will allow retaining personnel in rural areas, and the development of infrastructure and housing construction in the cities and villages of the future will create conditions for their living. Among the positive examples is the digital platform for precision farming operating in Mazolowogaz, Vitebsk district.– The development of tourism with the active involvement of small and medium businesses and the population will give a second life to rural areas. All the conditions for this are in place, – said Elena Borzdyko.

The priority direction of industrial development is innovation, automation, robotization, digitalization of all processes. As an example, in the light industry, there is a project to introduce robotic complexes at Belwest. Vitebsk Carpets OJSC and Orsha Flax Mill are actively implementing digitalization. There is a prospect for the development of mechanical engineering, where 48 enterprises in close cooperation with Russian manufacturers and our giants produce more than 4.5 thousand types of equipment and components. The flagship here is Vitstroytekhmash. The strategy also focuses on the development of electric transport and energy infrastructure.

– Taking into account the competencies, we focus on the development of pharmaceutical and biotechnologies. Our region has an excellent educational and scientific base with high-tech production facilities for the production of medical and veterinary drugs. Over the past five years, the Vitebsk region has doubled the production volumes in this industry. The production of more than 600 types of drugs has been mastered, – noted Elena Borzdyko. – The developed approaches to the development of agriculture will allow us to fully load the production capacities of food industry enterprises and process more than a million tons of milk and 60 thousand tons of meat per year, as well as increase the export potential in this area. In addition, one of the important industries is woodworking. At the government level, the implementation of a large project for the production of products with high added value and with wood processing volumes of at least a million cubic meters per year is being developed.

Also within the framework of the forum, awards were given to small and medium-sized businesses of the Vitebsk region.
Photo by Dmitry OSIPOV.