Insightful look into tomorrow

STRONG REGIONS, INTELLECTUAL ENVIRONMENT, FOCUS ON MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL PARTNERSHIP AND A STRONG FAMILY ARE THE PRIORITIES IN THE DRAFT PROGRAM OF THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF BELARUS UNTIL 2025

TThe main directions of the draft Program of the socioeconomic development of the Republic of Belarus for 2021–2025 have already been presented by the main developers of this large-scale document. By the way, not only government agencies, but also business unions, public associations, the scientific and expert community actively participated in its preparation — more than 35 different dialogue platforms and round tables were held in total.

Yes, the developers have identified four program priorities — strong regions, intellectual focus of the development, openness to partnership, and a strong family. At the same time, presenting a detailed description of the main directions of the draft program of the socio-economic development, Minister of Economy Aleksandr Chervyakov stressed that the state would continue to maintain its social focus and the growth of people’s well-being would remain the main point: “The main attention will be paid to incomes of the population, employment, prices, housing affordability and high-tech services in healthcare and education. The GDP growth for the five-year period is planned to reach 21.5 percent. Real disposable income of the population will increase by 20 percent, investments — by 22 percent. Exports of goods and services in 2025 will reach more than $50 billion”. The minister outlined another feature of the main program profile as follows: “In the economy, we will continue to develop industrial potential in traditional sectors, i.e. industry and agriculture, but only on a new technological base and digital basis. New high-tech industries and enterprises will be formed”. Speaking about the development priorities, Aleksandr Chervyakov explained that

Minsk and regional centers would focus on attracting investments in high-tech production, for which they have both production and research potential. Private business will also join this direction, which, for the implementation of such goals, will be offered unused production sites of state-owned enterprises, participation in import substitution programs and cooperation chains with large industrial enterprises.

Meanwhile, a new organizational structure, i.e. state corporations, is planned to be created in Belarus on the basis of amalgamation of production chains. At the initial stage, the creation of seven such corporations in the industrial sector is being considered. The prospects for the first pilot state corporation for agricultural machine building have already been worked out, it will unite about thirty enterprises with a total revenue of more than 3 billion rubles. It is planned to become a significant player in the global agricultural machinery market.

In the new five-year plan, Belarus will undergo clustering, i.e. an innovation that brings together science, private business and large companies with the purpose of developing an innovative product. In total, 13 clusters are planned to be created.

At the same time, family capital is growing. The focus is on a person, the standard and quality of his/her life, emphasizes the Minister of Labor and Social Protection Irina Kostevich. In other words, the priority is a happy family. According to Irina Kostevich, the family capital program, which has already proved its effectiveness, will continue to develop. Besides, there will be additional incentives for the birth of second and subsequent children in families. Among them is the solution of a housing problem, reintegration of mothers into the labor market, flexible patterns of employment. The possibility of extending the program to the birth of second children is also being considered.

— If we stimulate the birth of second children, thereby we’ll create a good start for the transition to the level of a large family,— said the Minister of Labor and Social Protection.— Therefore, we plan to consider the economic possibility of extending family capital to second children in the current five-year period.

The minister said that in order to ensure a balance between family and work, it is planned to develop early childcare services. It involves not only state kindergartens, but also minor types of employment, mini kindergartens. Women are supposed to be provided with flexible employment, especially if they have large families. So, during this year, an amendment to the Labor Code will be prepared, which envisages an option at the woman’s discretion, i.e. an additional paid day-off or reduction of the working day by one hour.

The program developers are confident that the real incomes of the population in nominal terms in the new five-year period should increase at least 1.2 times. Wages and pension benefits are the ways of this objective implementation. As Irina Kostevich clarifies, today it is worth discussing an increase in the salaries of not only doctors and teachers, but the whole teaching staff, such low-paid categories as workers in physical culture and sports, social services, and the sphere of culture.

In general, pension provision will develop in two directions, i.e. formation of an effective multi-level pension system and an increase in the attractiveness of financial market instruments for the population, in particular, the financial literacy of citizens. Irina Kostevich emphasizes that the state does not disengage itself from its obligation to further develop PAYG pension system, providing state pensions of citizens in conjunction with the salary work experience of each particular person. At the same time, it is planned to make the diversification in the amount of pensions of people who had high- or low-paid jobs more prominent.

Analyzing the draft Program of the socio-economic development of the Republic of Belarus for 2021–2025, one cannot fail to notice that in the new five-year plan more attention will be paid to the construction of individual housing. According to Ruslan Parkhamovich, Minister of Architecture and Construction, complex individual residential construction is planned to be carried out by one and the same developer, which includes streamlining and improving the architectural appearance of settlements. One of the directions of the housing policy will be the development of satellite cities to support return migration of the population to small and medium-sized cities. All new housing will be energy efficient. Commissioning of apartment buildings making use of electric energy for water and heat supply, cooking will amount to at least 30 percent of the total volume of housing built by the end of the five-year period. It is planned to expand housing affordability through rent, stimulating its volume via market mechanisms, including private capital raising. The minister also stresses that close attention will be paid to housing prices. According to Ruslan Parkhamovich, in the planned period the average cost of one square meter, built with state support, will still not exceed the average wage in the country. By the way, this ratio has been retained for the last 4 years. As a result, the level of housing per capita by 2025 will be at least 28.5 square meters.

And the Minister of Housing and Communal Services Andrey Khmel, in turn, emphasizes the fact that Belarus has managed to maintain the affordability of housing and communal services. On average, citizens spend less than five percent of their income thereon. For comparison: in Russia it is about 11 percent, in Baltic countries — 20–35 percent, in Ukraine — up to 40 percent. At the same time, the level of reimbursement of utility costs by the population at the end of last year is estimated at 83 percent. Only hot water supply and heating are subsidized. At the same time, Andrey Khmel notes: there is still great potential for improvement of housing and communal services quality. One of the key services is water supply. Iron removal stations are being actively put into operation. In 2019, 269 stations were built, in 2020–277. Over the next five years, 800 more such facilities are planned to be built, 300 water wells will be created and more than a hundred settlements will be reconnected to them. There is an important task to make Minsk water supply entirely from underground sources.

Experts agree that the five-year program is really focused on human interests, and all tasks set are realistic. For example, with regard to the social sphere, the deputy of the House of Representatives, the chairperson of the Standing Commission on Labor and Social Issues Lyudmila Kananovich is sure: the priorities are clearly set — this is an increase in the well-being of citizens. This year, the deputies will work on the Labor Code norms adjustment, they

plan to determine such concept as “remote work”. The pandemic played its role in this case. Employers had to arrange work on a rotational basis, on-line, as well as teleworking. The parliamentarians believe that such forms of employment should be developed. Indeed, there are quite a few jobs that can be done remotely: sales managers, translators, tutors, programmers, accountants, lawyers… Those who, in general, can fulfill their official duties, functional duties, as well as those who can easily present the results of their work to the employer remotely. When working on the Labor Code, the deputies will have to regulate the legal mechanisms of

remote work by law: what kind of contract should be concluded between the employee and the employer, specify the reporting system, the mode of work and rest of the employee. It is important to strike a balance between the labor market and education. — We should know what kind of specialists will be in demand tomorrow and train them — reflects Lyudmila Kananovich.— Today we are working on the Education Code adjustment. It envisages expansion of employer-sponsored training and education. The employer knows what kind of specialist is needed, sends a person to study, and after it employs him/her. As for senior citizens, one of the tasks in this area is to stimulate the duration of working life. This is also indicated in the draft Development Program for the five-year plan. Today, 24 percent of pensioners in the country work. Despite their age, professionals should be in demand as long as possible. Therefore, we are developing various programs for retraining senior citizens to master new specialties.

Be that as it may, a lot will still depend on the economy. Meanwhile, the Belarusian economy is in many ways unique in its structure and principles of development. On the one hand, it is small in terms of the domestic market scale, which predetermines the vital necessity of its integration into global chains. On the other hand, it has the features of larger players, i.e. the ability to produce goods that compete with the products of the world’s leading companies in a wide range of areas, such as mechanical engineering, including machine- tool industry, industrial and consumer electronics, robotics, oil and gas chemistry, agriculture and food industry, complex optical systems and complexes, pharmaceutical production. Created on the fragments of the Soviet economy “assembly shop”, separated by the national borders, nevertheless, with the state support it quickly adapted to new conditions and accumulated potential for further development. Despite the fact that “experts” predicted a collapse of most of the leaders of the domestic industry in market realities. But time has shown the viability of the implemented strategy, i.e. the ability to preserve what has been achieved and develop, relying on intellectual capital, local resources and industrial cooperation.

The effectiveness of the socio-economic model of development is especially clearly manifested in difficult periods. These include last year to the full, during which Belarus had to face serious challenges. In January-February, disputes over the terms of supply of hydrocarbons had a significant impact on the stability of the economy. In March-April, the global economy started to show signs of disarray as a result of covid restrictions, the so-called lockdowns and border closures. This provoked turbulence in the Belarusian financial and foreign exchange market, and required the mobilization of resources to support the affected industries and counteract the spread of infection. And even in such conditions, the country’s GDP sank by only less than one percent, which is better than the indicators of all neighboring countries. At the same time, many industries and specific business entities used the situation to expand their market niche, increase production and sales. Among them there are, for example, Gomselmash, JSC, Atlant and Horizont, enterprises of Amkodor holding.

It should not go unspoken that a distinctive feature of the socio-economic model implemented in the country is preservation of the planning system, on the basis of which the coordination of the activities of the Belarusian state with global trends is ensured, directions of future development are set.

It goes without saying that the main role belongs to five-year planning. It links the strategy and tactics of the state’s actions, ensures mobilization of resources for the achievement of the most important development tasks. The program priorities are clear targets. Yes, four priorities have been proposed for the current five-year period: a happy family, strong regions, intellectual country, and a partner state. Their implementation will contribute to the continuation of the policy pursued to form a strong economy aimed at the growth of the population well-being.

“Happy Family” priority. Each person strives for happiness, associating it primarily with family well-being. This includes wellness of all members of the “main social unit”, which allows them to have children, raise them in prosperity, and maintain active longevity. This is an opportunity to get a decent education and an indemand job. These are clear life guidelines, as a rule, based on traditional values shared by all family members, education in the

atmosphere of mutual respect, dedication and responsibility. The draft program envisages the state policy focus on the support of large families, protection of mothers and children, and introduction of additional incentives for the birth of second and subsequent children in families. The system of state benefits will be improved, the family capital program will be expanded. Each large family registered for the improvement of housing conditions will be provided the opportunity to build housing within one year since the date of registration. Actually, it can be stated without exaggeration that most of the program provisions are, to one degree or another, aimed at implementation of the “Happy Family” priority.

Referring to the “Strong Regions” priority, first of all, it is worth noting that the balanced development of territories through the creation of industrial and social infrastructure in the lagging regions is designed to provide comfortable and safe living and working conditions. A person should get a decent job and have comfortable social environment everywhere. This priority involves strengthening of measures on support of rural areas, small urban settlements, and lagging regions.

Undoubtedly, “Intellectual country” priority envisages the formation of a competitive active human capital through education and training, the development of science, and personal creative fulfillment. The focus on science and education, by the way, has already proved its effectiveness. It is a high educational level of the personnel that led to the successful development of the economy spheres based on knowledge and high technologies. The HTP has become a recognizable brand of the country, along with BELAZ, tractor “Belarus”, large food companies, the number of its residents approaches a thousand, and the number of its employees is about seventy thousand.

The country produces unmanned aerial vehicles and cars, creates competitive Earth remote sensing satellites, high-tech medical equipment, and unique pharmaceutical substances. The share of science-intensive and high-tech exports of goods and services is growing. For example, in 2019, medical services were delivered to more than 120 thousand foreign citizens. Including transplantation care, the level of which corresponds to the level achieved in the European Union. This would have been impossible without the systematic training of national personnel.

Certainly, the education system is a key link in the formation of the country’s human capital. Its work is based on the principle of “education and learning throughout life.” From an early age, the development of intelligence, the formation of a child’s personality is ensured on the basis of preschool child-care institutions. One of the key achievements is the availability of higher education, its quality, which is confirmed by the data of international ratings. The educational level of the population largely determines the high place of Belarus in the Human Development Index. It is obvious that the work on the improvement of the education system will continue. The task is to improve opportunities both for the acquisition of knowledge and for its implementation in the national innovation system. Taking into account the accumulated competencies, electrical industry and electric transport, bio-industry and pharmaceuticals, robotics and instrumentation will be breakthrough points of growth. And this is far non-exhaustive list of areas to be specified.

“Partner State” priority. In the upcoming five-year period, a qualitative leap will be made in building interaction between the state and the society, creating a favorable and transparent business environment. This will become possible, among other things, thanks to the implementation of an ID-card and a personal digital cabinet of a citizen. Services of administrative procedures will be built on this basis, it will be possible to increase the efficiency of the discussion of public and legislative initiatives. There is a good chance that with the proper level of personal data protection, using these resources, it will be possible to organize electoral campaigns of republican and local significance.

Country development on the basis of these priorities will reduce dependence on external factors. Already now Belarus is able to promptly establish the production of many components to replace supplies from the EU countries. And during the five-year plan, it is planned to master the production of more than 260 new types of import-substituting products.

Most importantly, the five-year program is structured as a “real

life document” — everyone can find in it the answers to the question about the measures to be taken to meet his/her needs, be it social guarantees, business conditions, wages or pensions. The program is ambitious and realistic. It combines tradition and innovation. Corresponds to global trends and answers the most pressing needs of its citizens. This means that its implementation will accelerate the dynamics and increase the sustainability of economic development, and improve the quality of life.

Vasily Kharitonov

BELTA

BREATH OF SPRING

Traditionally, Belarus has celebrated Women’s Day and International Women’s Day. And officially it is celebrated in 31 countries of the world.

It so happened that the arrival of spring for most of us is associated with the holiday on March 8. With a day-off, flowers and gifts for the fair gender of all age-groups. If we turn to history, it testifies to the struggle of women for their rights, that the holiday was originally invented with the aim of drawing attention to emancipation, as well as promotion of respect for women. If necessary, it is enough to google this date on the Internet to get acquainted with its political, social, and other pleasant meanings.

This holiday in Belarus is considered to be a day of spring, female beauty, tenderness, warmth and attention to a woman, regardless of her status and, once again, age.

On the eve of the weekend in offices, factories, schools and even kindergartens, the stronger gender congratulates and says the words of gratitude to the beautiful half of humanity for their beauty, ability to work, love and spiritual generosity. President

Alexander Lukashenko also congratulated

Belarusian women. “It is symbolic that the most important words for every person — mother, family, Motherland — are feminine. It is you who preserve and pass on to new generations the most important values and traditions. At the same time, you can conquer any professional, sports, and creative heights,” — said the head of state.

Alexander Lukashenko also stressed that there had been different periods in the history of the country and the people, but Belarusian women had always been distinguished by exceptional wisdom and calm confidence in a happy future.

Each historical epoch is marked by the uniqueness of female characters and destinies. Today, women are not only hearth and home keepers, but they also make a huge contribution to the development of industry, healthcare, science, education, culture, sports, and the service sector. Many of our compatriots wrote brilliant pages in history of the country, became an example of patriotism, hard work and loyalty to civic duty and their family. Throughout the history of mankind, women create harmony in family relationships, raise children, inspire men to feats and labor achievements.

But the most sacred woman for each of us is, of course, mother. She gives a person life, health, beauty, teaches irreplaceable lessons of kindness, morality, thereby helping to become a personality and find his/her own place in a society.

Let us remind the reader: the decision on the annual celebration of the International Women’s Day was made at the second International Conference of Socialists in Copenhagen in 1910. The initiator was Clara Zetkin. The original name sounded like this — the Day of international solidarity of women in the struggle for economic, social and political equality. It was first celebrated in 1911 in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Denmark. Moreover, in different countries, the celebrations took place on different dates in March.

The tradition of celebrating the holiday on March 8 appeared after 1914. In the USSR, it was a workday for quite a long time, and only on the eve of the 20th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War, in 1965, it was declared a day-off.

Officially, the United Nations began celebrating March 8 in 1975, the year proclaimed by the United Nations as the International Women’s Year. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, some states abandoned this holiday. It remained in Belarus, only the name was changed — now it is the Women’s Day.

In the world, March 8 is not considered a public holiday, but every year it is gaining more and more popularity, while maintaining a feminist bias.

Interestingly, the UN is actively promoting March 8 as a universal date, however there are several other major holidays. One of them is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. It is celebrated on November 25 to honor the memory of the Mirabal sisters who were killed in the Dominican Republic. Violence against women is still an incredibly

common problem that is often not brought to court. On this day, countries are encouraged to conduct events that increase the publicity of the problem and talk about ways of its solution.

October 15 is the International Day of Rural Women, whose rights have received little attention. In South Africa, celebration of Women’s Day is held on August 9, and which is notable — at the state level. The date is supposed to remind about the struggle of local activists against the tyranny of the government of the apartheid era. Thus, on August 9, 1956, they prevented the introduction of compulsory passports for women in South Africa.

The countries that have supported the UN, primarily use the holiday as a reason for raising important for women social issues. From year to year, the UN chooses a priority topic on which efforts will be focused. In 2013, it was combating violence against women, last year — “Equality for women — progress for all”. In 2015 — “Inspiring Women — Inspiring Humanity”. A purple ribbon is considered to be a symbol of the holiday. This year’s theme comes with the hashtag #MakeItHappen. In Afghanistan, men put on burqas and protested to support women’s rights. In India, March 8 this year marks the date on which women continue to demand justice for victims of violence who are not protected by law or society. Many publications focus on remembering the origins of the date, and suggest marking it not with flowers, but with a call to action and drawing attention, for example, to key health problems and brave feminists in the world history. Forbes magazine explains the real difference in wages of men and women and gives advice on how the situation can be improved. Among other things, on March 8, it was promised to launch the #UpForSchool petition, the goal of which is to get world leaders to educate 31 million boys and girls around the world. Today, the Internet is playing a key role in making International Women’s Day a part of the global pop culture.

By the way, it is interesting to remember some facts.

Women’s holiday was celebrated in ancient Rome, however, on another day, when men gave gifts to their wives, and women-slaves could rest throughout the day. Quite a day of women’s solidarity! And on March 8, 1910, the French pilot Elise de Laroche became the owner of the title of the world’s first female pilot to be licensed to fly an airplane. The symbolic assignment of such status was a simple coincidence, at that time the Women’s Day was not celebrated yet, although the holiday was established in the same year. Japan, for example, although it does not celebrate the International Women’s Day, gives its women in March as many as two holidays: March 3 — the Girls’ Day, and March 14 — the White Day, when women receive gifts from their lovers, whom they gave presents to on Valentine’s Day.

And some statistics.

According to various polls held in the world, 44% of women name flowers as the most anticipated gifts on March 8, and about 55% of men are going to give them annually. With jewelry, the opposite is true — 15–16% of women want to get it, but only 9% of the stronger gender plan to give it.

In Belarus, the most popular flowers for March 8 are tulips, because this day is associated with the arrival of spring. And they are grown “on a large scale” in many regions of Belarus. And, of course, roses, crocuses, and hyacinths are also popular… Mimosa also does not give up positions. Although the life of this so-called Silver Acacia is very short, it is still among the favorites of Belarusian women. A native of Australia, which settled down in Sochi and on the southern coast of Crimea, pleases us with its bright yellow color and delicate, sweet aroma on March 8.

Mikhalina Cherkashina Materials from BelTa, wonderzine.com, https://el.kz/ru/ were used