A. Lukashenko: any enterprise in Belarus can be privatized, it's only a matter of price

March 30, Minsk / Tatyana Polozhay - BELTA /. Any enterprise in Belarus can be privatized, the only question is the price. This was stated by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko at a meeting on privatization issues, according to a BELTA correspondent. Alexander Lukashenko stressed that there will be no mass privatization in the country. "If the state needs it, it will be targeted," he noted. "Any enterprise can be privatized. Any, without exception," the head of state said. "And why be secretive? We used to classify such an enterprise as Beltransgaz as strategic. It was forbidden to be privatized. Was it privatized? Yes. So why should we again beat around the bush, only to later remove it from the list of those forbidden for privatization by law and so on. We need to decide once and for all: there is no mass privatization, it is targeted, if the state needs it, and all enterprises in Belarus can be privatized, the only question is the price." The President emphasized that the issue of privatization in Belarus is not simply regulated, but has been hard-won by the Belarusian people. "This issue is at the center of all political events, because privatization is a difficult issue, to put it in simple terms for the population, it is about the buying and selling of state property, which has been created by many generations of our people," the head of state said. "We have always said that we are not against privatization. But there has been no mass privatization in the country before, and there will be none now. This issue is not up for discussion as long as I am President. If I am not President, you will see how you will sell enterprises, property, land, perhaps the country as a whole. Although if I am alive, I will always oppose it," Alexander Lukashenko stated. The President considers the process of selling and buying property in the state to be normal. In the opinion of the head of state, the current privatization procedure in the country is not bad. "What is wrong with it? It's a normal procedure, we have two levels of ownership: communal, the responsibility of local authorities, and republican," the President said, addressing those present. "Why divide enterprises here into very necessary and unnecessary ones. You know, it's even incorrect in relation to the population," the President noted. "All enterprises are important for the country where our people work. Why divide them into strategic and non-strategic?" Alexander Lukashenko admitted that the current privatization process is difficult and too bureaucratic. "But we are not selling our own, we did not create it. Therefore, we must bargain. Not just come, see, conquer, and take the enterprise," he said. The President expressed concern about the information he received from the governors about the consequences of privatization. "Today, the President has to take an axe and cut down these processes. When our enterprises seemed to be working quite well after privatization, and today they have become objects of fraud. Who will be responsible for this later?" the head of state noted. Alexander Lukashenko outlined another issue that interested him: what is the result of putting shares of Belarusian enterprises on the stock exchange and their free trade. "Who bought them, how much money did they pay, and how much better did the buyer start working there, what did they bring to our people and the state?" the President noted. In conclusion, Alexander Lukashenko stressed: "Great Deng Xiaoping said: it doesn't matter what color the cat is, as long as it catches mice. Therefore, it doesn't matter what kind of enterprise it will be: state-owned, private, joint-stock, public-private - it doesn't matter, the main thing is that they produce decent products, pay normal money to the people who work there, and do not forget about paying taxes." -0-