Belarusian science priorities till 2045 discussed

Prime Minister of Belarus Roman Golovchenko hosted a session of the commission on the state scientific and technical policy under the Council of Ministers, BelTA has learned.

Two items were on the agenda: a draft comprehensive forecast of Belarus’ social and technological advance for 2026-2030 and till 2045 and proposals on priority avenues of scientific, scientific technological, and innovative activities for 2026-2030.

Roman Golovchenko noted: “A lot of time and effort has been spent to prepare these documents. Tens of the best scientists of the country worked to develop them. The documents themselves have been analyzed many times by heads and experts of government agencies and organizations. A logical end of this work is to consider these documents at a session of the commission on the state scientific and technical policy under the Council of Ministers and consequently approve them.” 

“You know perfectly well how much attention is paid at the highest level to matters of import substitution, technological sovereignty and the ability of domestic science to satisfy needs of the real sector of the economy for new R&D products. This is why the documents we will discuss at today’s session are of strategic importance. They are the basis for working out other state forecasting and planning documents. This is why their quality and the ability to use them in practice in economy branches should cause no doubt,” the prime minister stressed. 

“It is important to understand how practical use of the comprehensive forecast will be ensured and what real benefits of the document for the economy will be. Whether it lives up to modern challenges and threats or not. Will the document become just a pretty book with seldom applicable uses? As part of the report on priority avenues of scientific, scientific technological, and innovative activities I’d like to hear how topical the prepared list of priorities is, how it differs from the document that is in effect during the current five-year term and whether it meets interests of the real sector of the economy,” the head of government summarized.

Chairman of the State Committee on Science and Technology Sergei Shlychkov told reporters about the importance of the two documents.

“In accordance with the legislation the forecast and the priority avenues represent the basis for developing the key documents that regulate social and economic development. Such as the National Sustainable Development Strategy and the Social and Economic Development Program, and industry-specific strategies. Results of this work will be used to form a list of various government programs. New projects will be selected. Decisions will be made on financing scientific research, R&D work, and projects to create innovative industrial facilities,” he explained.

“Our goal was to identify growth points primarily in economy and in ensuring national security. Just like in the current five-year period digital technologies are a number one priority. In other words, everything related to information and communication technologies. The forecast is primarily aimed at 15 branches of the economy and 22 kinds of economic activities, which give us the highest contribution to the GDP as a result of the last three years. Those are processing industry, agribusiness, healthcare, and education,” the chairman of the State Committee on Science and Technology noted.

Writter by:  belta.by