Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko, at a meeting on the development of biopharmaceuticals, proposed that state-owned and private pharmaceutical enterprises operate within a unified organizational structure based on common interests, BELTA correspondent reports.
To discuss the future development of biopharmaceuticals, heads of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, the State Control Committee, the government and the Presidential Administration, the National Academy of Sciences, as well as representatives of the pharmaceutical, scientific community and business were invited to participate in the meeting.
Initially, the Chairman of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee was scheduled to deliver the main report at the event, as the "BelVitunipharm" enterprise, whose operations were planned to be discussed at the meeting, is located in this region. However, Aleksandr Lukashenko scaled up the theme of the event and yielded the floor to Vladimir Karanik, as the issue of biopharmaceuticals is of great importance on a national scale, not just for a single region. Furthermore, the current Chairman of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences previously held the position of Minister of Health and is familiar with the operations of pharmaceutical enterprises.
The discussion touched upon the "Belpharmprom" holding, which includes only organizations involved in the production of medical preparations. Enterprises that produce veterinary vaccines are mainly subordinate to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food. Both types of enterprises can be either state-owned or privately owned. In this regard, Aleksandr Lukashenko highlighted the problem of their fragmented work: "State-owned ones are supposedly somehow managed by the state. Badly, well - it doesn't matter. And private ones... Let them think, let them live, survive, and work as they please."
"The state has a regulatory mechanism that allows us to determine policy in this direction," said Vladimir Karanik.
"That is, we can always twist their arms? But we don't need to twist arms! We need to unite and work together," the President is confident.
Vladimir Karanik pointed out that such enterprises can indeed work together, but for this, regulatory mechanisms need to be used effectively.
Aleksandr Lukashenko is convinced that private enterprises, together with state-owned ones, can operate within a unified organizational structure, taking into account common interests. At the same time, he added, the management of this structure does not necessarily have to interfere too much in the work of private enterprises.
"We have a lot of disparate enterprises that may duplicate the production of state-owned ones. Or perhaps it's unclear why they compete in the markets and so on. Why can't we create a certain holding company that would take into account the interests of both state-owned and private (enterprises. - BELTA's note)?" - the President suggested one of the solutions.