Andrei Ivanets appointed Belarus' education minister

Before the new appointment, Andrei Ivanets was Chief Scientific Secretary of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus.

“You are a scientist, quite young, a corresponding member [of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus], doctor of science, an educated person, a chemist. This is also very good. I respect chemists, biologists, physicists very much. They were less susceptible to this ‘corrosion' than scholars in the humanities. Though I myself majored in humanities and was also engaged in sciences at one time. I really hope that you will be a good fit for this job,” the head of state said describing Andrei Ivanets.

“Keep moving forward. If you want to work, go ahead and work, we will work together. If you don't want to work, leave,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko is sure that a rather young age is not a problem for being a minister: “They insisted that you are young. I was about the same age when I became president. What does ‘young' mean? Time is very tight now, we need to be on the move all the time. This is a combination of experience and youth. This generation will run the country tomorrow and take over the responsibility for all these processes. Therefore, I think that it is perfectly fine to become a minister by 40.”

The president noted that being in charge of this ministry is not an easy job: “I really believe in your integrity and ideological commitment. You will not go astray. This is good,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.