1 March, Vitebsk /Diana Kurilo - BELTA/. Decree No. 75 "On External Loans of Local Executive and Administrative Bodies" expands the powers of regional executive committees to attract foreign investment. This point of view was expressed in a conversation with a BELTA correspondent by Oleg Matskevich, Deputy Chairman of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee. In his opinion, the most effective tool for external borrowing could be the issuance and placement of bonds by local executive and administrative bodies abroad. As, unlike loans from foreign banks, they allow for planning both the cost level for the issuer and the income level for the buyer, while not requiring collateral. However, this requires the secondary securities market to function. Oleg Matskevich is confident that Decree No. 75 will "spur" the development of this market. For the Vitebsk region, external borrowing could bring the greatest effect when invested in the modernization of agricultural processing enterprises, which account for 85% of the region's exports. Given the geographical location of the region, investments in the development of transport and logistics infrastructure are justified. -0-

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