More energy subsidies will only increase Belarusian dependence - U.S. diplomat
(all quotes are transcribed from the original English)
MINSK. Jan 26 (Interfax) - U.S. charge d'affaires to Belarus Michael Scanlan thinks that Belarus should resolve its economic problems by fostering free enterprise, not through energy subsidies from Russia.
"The solution to your economic problems is not to continue energy subsidies or deepen your dependence on a single market, which has been the policy of the last seventeen years", Scanlan said in an interview with Interfax.
"As the old adage says, 'give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he eats for life.' Not only can subsidies end, as you discovered abruptly in 2010 with Russia oil, but they foster dependence and inhibit competitiveness. You end up with a cycle of booms and busts, erasing in a matter of months what people worked years to achieve", the diplomat went on, citing the 2011 events in Belarus.
Scanlan thinks that private enterprise can provide the answer to these economic problems. "Fostering private entrepreneurship will bring with it foreign investment, because everywhere in the world private business prefers to deal with private partners. For example, private companies operating in the "High Tech Park" account for 1.5% of Belarusian GDP. 11,000 programmers and others, not the government, have proven that they can compete with anyone. That is the way forward", the diplomat said.
Scanlan also underscored that "private enterprise should be the practice writ large, not just isolated on artificial islands and in special parks".
