Lukashenko receives National Bank report, advocates for healthy competition on key national issues

In addition to National Bank Chairman Roman Golovchenko, the meeting was attended by Prime Minister Aleksandr Turchin, Head of the President Administration Dmitry Krutoi, First Deputy Prime Minister Nikolai Snopkov, and First Deputy Chairman of the National Bank Aleksandr Yegorov. It is also worth noting that 10 March marked exactly one year since Roman Golovchenko’s appointment as Chairman of the National Bank. Prior to this, he headed the government.

“To put it simply, with the change of the prime minister and certain members of the government, I wouldn’t want to lose sight of those issues that are important for our country’s development. This topic for our conversation was prompted by my communication with Roman Aleksandrovich [Golovchenko], who reminded me that there are very important issues that need to be kept in focus. Issues that were once assigned to Roman Aleksandrovich [Golovhenko] for monitoring,” the president said.

“Let’s discuss these issues, especially those that require resolution in the near future. They are located, if one might say, outside Belarus’ borders, beyond Belarus. Primarily, this concerns the Middle East, the East in general, Africa, and Asia. Those countries where we must go to market our products and establish joint ventures. The countries that are ready to invest in Belarus,” the head of state said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko mentioned as examples countries such as Oman and the United Arab Emirates, which see their own interests in cooperation with Belarus and, at the same time, possess the resources to realize them. “The government reminds me that we agreed, primarily in Oman, to establish mineral fertilizer production. This is very important for us, especially potassium sulfate. My recent visits to Algeria and other countries indicate that we have substantial interests there. Particularly in Algeria. This concerns the production of compound fertilizers. We are ready to work in this direction,” the president said.

The head of state noted that Roman Golovchenko also reminded him about the topic of organic fertilizer production, in addition to mineral fertilizers. Including peat. “We will consider this matter,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

The president drew attention to the fact that the National Bank has many specialists who are knowledgeable not only in the banking sector but also in many other fields. Therefore, their potential needs to be utilized: “They say that we have quite advanced specialists at the bank. They are ready to create data processing centers. Or at least to monitor how that process is progressing. And a number of other projects. In this regard, I am, so to speak, a greedy person. I would not want to lose National Bank specialists who are currently being underutilized. And not because they don’t want to work. They are capable.”

In this regard, the head of state mentioned Aleksandr Yegorov, who, for example, oversees work with Nicaragua. Roman Golovchenko, for his part, has experience working with the Arab East. Moreover, he has gained significant expertise from his time serving as prime minister.

“We must not lose the National Bank; we need them to help us, especially in economics and finance during these challenging times. I want to reiterate a warning that we should have no friction here. The resolution of issues rests with us. We will resolve everything together, everyone understands that perfectly well. If anything, I am for healthy competition - who can better and more effectively propose a topic or resolve a particular issue, in addition to their core responsibilities,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

The president also proposed discussing debt obligations. “It’s clear that we have certain loans hanging over us that we took out. We need to substantially sort out this matter as well,” he said.