The Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee's Economy Committee is resuming the practice of holding a competition for investment projects of small businesses in the region to provide them with state financial support, a BELTA correspondent was informed by the committee.
"As supporting entrepreneurship is now a priority for economic recovery, we have decided to resume the practice of previous years and hold such a competition for the first time in a long time. We are accepting applications from small businesses until March 31. The funding source is the regional budget funds allocated for 2017 under the state program "Small and Medium-sized Entrepreneurship in the Republic of Belarus" for 2016-2020," explained Alexander Trofimov, Head of the Entrepreneurship Development Department of the Regional Executive Committee's Economy Committee.
Entities implementing investment projects in the following priority areas can apply for support on a competitive basis: creation, development, and expansion of production of goods (works, services); organization, development of production, and sale of export-oriented, import-substituting products; production of products aimed at energy and resource conservation; implementation of new technologies. Job creation is a mandatory condition.
Support can be provided in the form of subsidies to reimburse part of the interest on bank loans or part of the expenses for lease payments under financial lease agreements concerning the payment of the lessor's remuneration. The received funds can be used for the construction, acquisition of capital buildings, isolated premises, their repair and reconstruction, acquisition of equipment, vehicles, special devices and appliances, purchase of component parts, raw materials, and materials for own production and service provision.
The organization and conduct of the competition are carried out by the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee's Economy Committee.