Large businesses can give a powerful impetus to the development of regions, and the authorities' task is to create attractive conditions for serious business people in the hinterland.
Large businesses can give a powerful impetus to the development of regions, and the authorities' task is to create attractive conditions for serious business people in the hinterland. This opinion was shared in a conversation with a BELTA correspondent by the Chairman of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, Nikolai Sherstnev, commenting on the report of the government, the National Bank, regional executive committees, and the Minsk City Executive Committee on the results of the economy's performance in 2017 and the tasks for ensuring sustainable economic growth.
The governor noted that uneven regional development affects people's quality of life, and therefore the situation needs to be leveled out. One of the effective mechanisms is attracting investors. Currently, the highest concentration of enterprising people in the country is in the capital region. "Unfortunately, businessmen are not particularly eager to move to the periphery and develop production there. They have their own reasons and a whole range of objective and subjective causes for this. The task of local and central authorities is to create attractive conditions for business, small and large, domestic and foreign, in the regions, acting in concert. By the way, there are already examples of attracting significant investments in the Vitebsk region. For instance, the white tin plant under construction in Miory is a huge enterprise with an investment of 250 million euros," said the head of the region.
According to Nikolai Sherstnev, regional development is based on two main components: state policy to support regions and attracting substantial non-state investments to the hinterland. "Both the first and the second are equally significant. State support includes the construction of new roads and assistance to production facilities important for the country. Attracting business, both Belarusian and foreign, means creating new high-performance, and therefore high-income, jobs, significant contributions to the budget, strengthening the social sphere, and, overall, regional development and improving the quality of life of our people," the governor summarized.