Vitebsk entrepreneurs are participating in the development of the National Business Platform of Belarus-2014

Entrepreneurs note that the most significant aspect in the implementation of last year's platform was the state's recognition of the important role of small and medium-sized businesses in the economic sector. This is confirmed by separate regulatory legal acts concerning certain issues of insurance, export price policy, property relations, and others. However, there are positions where the situation of doing business has become more complicated, and, unfortunately, many provisions of Directive No. 4 of the President "On the Development of Entrepreneurial Initiative and Stimulation of Business Activity in the Republic of Belarus"still remain only in theory due to stalling at the local level.

– The platform is being implemented, although not all of its provisions are, we return to some issues year after year, – noted the First Deputy Chairman of the Vitebsk City Council for Entrepreneurship Development, Director of Private Unitary Enterprise "Technotex"Vasily Lomakin at a meeting of the Council of the Association of Employers and Entrepreneurs of the Vitebsk Region. – However, it is good that we are constantly talking about our problems, and the state is aware of what concerns business representatives.

The discussion of the current document project was joined by Andrey Sidorov, Director of CTPUP "Vitsstroytekhmash", Anna Grigoryeva, Director of SPC "Spetssistema", Evgeny Klimentyonok, Chairman of the Vitebsk Regional Committee of the Trade Union of Workers of Various Forms of Entrepreneurship "Sadruzhnost", Larisa Petrushenko, Director of CJSC "Fenek", owner of the restaurant "Lyamus", Lyudmila Prokofieva, Chairman of the Board of the local charitable Foundation for Spiritual Revival, and others. The meeting took place in the recently opened center "Razvitie" in Vitebsk, which provides coworking services.

Numerous issues were raised. Council members supported the proposal to involve entrepreneurs in discussing regulatory legal acts concerning the activities of the private sector of the economy, advocated for the adoption of the law "On Charity", and for the creation of a database of innovative developments to know what can be used in one's own production. In addition, an initiative was proposed to change the deadlines for statistical reporting, namely, to bring them closer to tax deadlines. It would also be worthwhile to simplify statistical reports, or rather, to correlate them with the production volumes of the enterprise, as sometimes small business entities have to deal with complex forms in order to put zeros almost everywhere.

– Currently, the platform is being discussed throughout the country, the draft document is posted on the Internet, and one can express their opinion or make a proposal. On March 5, in Minsk, at the assembly of business circles, the final version will be adopted, which will become a guide to action for business structures and authorities, – noted Nina Lukyanova, Executive Director of the association. – How does the current platform differ from the previous one? The new project provides for two perspectives: priority and long-term tasks will be identified.

The main problems of business today are no secret to anyone: the high cost of credit resources, the lack of permission to buy out leased premises, and the complexities of land legislation. However, it is not yet clear whether their solution will be among the priority tasks.

Olga Maslovskaya, "Vitebskie Vesti"