Łukašenka: economy can survive without Hi-Tech Park

December 12, BPN. The economy and social welfare would continue functioning even if “something happened” to Belarus’ Hi-Tech Park (HTP), Alaksandr Łukašenka told officials on December 12.

“There is an opinion that the IT Park has played a positive role in the development of information technologies in the country,” Łukašenka’s press office quoted him as saying. “But today any company, the Academy of Sciences, or educational institutions have sufficient expertise in information technologies.”

Alaksandr Batvinnik, appointed by Łukašenka as CEO of the Minsk Motor Plant, said that the BelAZ truck plant had developed its software on its own. It may establish an IT company at the HTP in 2023-2024 to enjoy tax benefits, he noted, adding that it is also ready to continue in-house software development if the HTP “doesn’t exist” by then.

Łukašenka ordered officials to consider tax benefits for IT companies outside the HTP. “We shouldn’t drag them in to the Hi-Tech Park,” he said. “[Is it] only for the sake of benefits? We can give them the appropriate benefits . . . that exist in the HTP.”

He also suggested preferences for IT professionals who provide services directly to BelAZ, MAZ (Minsk Automobile Plant), and MTZ (Minsk Tractor Works).

On November 17, Łukašenka said that HTP employees “did not show themselves, to put it mildly, in the best way” during the 2020 protests. The authorities cannot allow another wave of protests to come from IT professionals or entrepreneurs, he stressed.