The urban settlement of Kopys will acquire the status of a cultural and business center

Before the meeting, Alexander Grigoryevich visited the pottery workshops of the Center for Folk Art and Crafts, which was opened five years ago by order of the head of state. Potters, masters of straw weaving, embroidery, weaving, and willow weaving work here. A large part of the artistic products are sold in the salon-store in Kopys. However, the center exists on budget funds, earning only 11% from sales.

The President emphasized the importance of preserving folk crafts, but stressed that the center should develop more actively and become self-sufficient within two years. After all, profitable enterprises that provide jobs are the foundation of agro-towns, which hold the future.

At the very beginning of the meeting, which was attended by the chairmen of the Vitebsk and Mogilev regional executive committees, Nikolai Sherstnev and Vladimir Domanevsky, the President drew attention to the fact that the issue is much broader than the future of individual territories in the respective districts; it is necessary to raise the Belarusian village to a new level of development.

According to Alexander Lukashenko, thanks to the modernization of agriculture carried out at one time, we have gained certain experience in developing the village as a whole. Now the task is to move forward.

As an experiment, it is proposed to combine several agro-towns in the Mogilev region into an export-oriented high-tech holding with a full production cycle. For this purpose, medium-sized farms were chosen: "Amkodor-Shklov", "Novoye Yubileynoye", and "Bolshiye Slaveni". Why?

– If we had taken the best and started looking into the future through them, we would have been criticized by those managers, specialists, and peasants who live in the worst and unprofitable farms, – the President emphasized and added that we need to create a model farm of the future without turning the village into a city.

– Production and people are good, – the head of state clarified. – But we also need processing and sales of products. When the entire cycle is in one pair of hands, then there is profit.

According to Alexander Lukashenko, having raised agricultural production to a new level and created decent living conditions for people, we must proceed in the same way throughout the country. We must take a step forward by attracting initiative and private capital.

Speaking about the production sphere, Alexander Lukashenko urged not to simplify under any circumstances, but to implement the most advanced technologies, so that later there would be no need to correct anything or pay large sums of money.

The Chairman of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, Nikolai Sherstnev, noted that it is necessary to create comfortable living conditions in Kopyś. The service sector should be modernized with a focus on tourism, because there is a very rich historical heritage. The general development plan for the urban settlement was presented by the director of the enterprise "Institute Vitebskgrazhdanproekt", Natalia Kosabuko.

– We came to Kopyś as a large group of specialists, walked down every street, and talked to the residents, – noted Natalia Vasilievna. – We see the further development of the settlement, primarily in creating safe and normal living conditions. To achieve this, it is necessary to improve and expand the service sector, and to tidy up the territory of the settlement while preserving the culture, history, and ethnographic features of the region.

According to Natalia Kosabuko, the concept for the development of the urban settlement includes densifying the residential environment and constructing additional engineering and transport infrastructure, as well as improving the left bank of the Dnieper with access to the water via wooden stairs and piers. The master plan also incorporates the creation of an ecological trail, park and beach areas, the restoration of Petrovsky Val, the reconstruction of the street road network, including the construction of a bypass road, the erection of sports facilities, and much more. The preliminary cost for all of this is estimated at around 58 million rubles. Alexander Lukashenko approved the concept, which will grant the settlement the status of a cultural and business center, and instructed that the first stage of work be completed by June 1, 2017.

– Ideal order must be established here. Not with exorbitant costs, but with genuine effort and good management. And the entire republic will follow your example. This will be a good model for other settlements and agro-towns, – said the President. – We do not need to turn villages into cities. But if we start creating conditions, people will move from cities to live here.

Elena SYS, "Vitebskiye Vesti", photos by BELTA.

In the photo: On November 12, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko visited the Center for Folk Art and Crafts of the urban settlement of Kopys in the Orsha district, where he familiarized himself with the work of the pottery workshop.