OREANDA-NEWS. November 20, 2007. Next year Belarus’ GDP growth rate should be at least 108,5%, First Vice Premier of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a session of the Council of Ministers Presidium. The session tabled the progress in implementing the 2007-2010 State Innovation Development Programme, reported the Official website www.government.by.

He remarked, without accomplishing the programme the targeted GDP growth and investment growth would be unreal. Vladimir Semashko reminded, in the last few years the rate of investment growth has been exceeding that of the gross domestic product by 2-3 times. In 2006 the GDP grew by 9,9% while investment soared by 31,2%. However, the investment growth has slowed down “and we are now close to the minimum — 15,3%. This year’s forecast expects investments to swell by at least 14,5%”.

In this view, the First Vice Premier stressed, it is necessary to clearly analyse where and by what the implementation of the innovation programme is impeded.

According to the official, Belarus’ innovation and investment development is extremely important. The country’s economy has entered a fundamentally new stage of renewal. “But everything we have secured we did so using old manufacturing facilities, which in some enterprises were built back in the USSR times. Now we need new money to keep and increase the renewal pace,” underlined Vladimir Semashko. He remarked, today companies do what life tells them to.

The state innovation programme comprises three levels. The first one lists projects for setting up new manufacturing facilities (173 projects). The second level envisages setting up new facilities using the old ones (274 projects). The third level provides for upgrading the existing facilities through introducing cutting-edge technologies (397 projects). Vladimir Semashko mentioned the brightest and most important innovation projects implemented in Belarus in 2007, namely setting up the production of hot-rolled seamless pipes at Byelorussian Steel Works at the expense of over $230 million. At present the enterprise is getting ready to working at the designed capacity.

ZAO Atlant has set up facilities for producing 700,000 washing machines while the present production capacity stands at 150,000 washing machines.

Smorgon Aggregate Plant has accomplished another high-tech project by starting up the production of tractors MTZ-921 for gardens and vineyards. The company can now turn out 5,000 such tractors per annum.