A competition for state support for small businesses will be held in the Vitebsk region

June 29, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. The Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee is developing regulations for a competition to provide state support to small businesses, Valentin Tsvetkov, head of the entrepreneurship development and consumer market department of the regional executive committee's economy committee, told a BELTA correspondent. The regional competition will be held in accordance with Decree No. 255 "On Certain Measures of State Support for Small Businesses," which comes into force on July 1, the source explained. The main condition for participation in the competition will be the creation of jobs. Priority will also be given to business entities engaged in the production of export-oriented and import-substituting products and consumer goods, the introduction of innovative technologies, and the development of small towns and rural areas. The regional budget for 2009 provides for financial support to small businesses. As Valentin Tsvetkov noted, there are more than 7.5 thousand commercial enterprises and over 30 thousand individual entrepreneurs in the region. Entrepreneurs are employed in 23 sectors of the economy, including 23% of non-state enterprises operating in the manufacturing sector, over 10% employed in construction, 9% in agriculture, over 35% of entrepreneurs working in trade and public catering, and about 9% in transport. -0-