Sergei Levkovich served as Presidential Aide – Inspector for Vitebsk Oblast.

"Sergei Viktorovich [Levkovich], you have made the decision or accepted the proposal to take the post of the first vice governor in Vitebsk Oblast. I am grateful to you for your decision to take up this post. You will need to work really hard there,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

Sergei Levkovich had previously worked at the post of first vice governor in Minsk Oblast.

“My trip to Vitebsk Oblast - its best districts – has revealed a lot of organizational problems there. You work there. You bear responsibility for what is going there,” the Belarusian leader said.

According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, there are examples of what and how to do in the regions. These are agro-towns, urban-type settlements and novelties at the district level. If necessary, Kopys and Shklov, recently visited by the head of state, can be studied as examples to follow.

“I mean everything has already been worked out. It needs proper organization. Vitebsk Oblast lacks good labor discipline. In the coming meeting in Vitebsk Oblast we will consider the region’s performance on the recent program, approved at the level of the president. [Former Governor] Nikolai Sherstnev proposed it, including integration structures and so on. Everyone (both young and old) says that it is a good idea, but it is still poorly implemented in Vitebsk Oblast. The question is why it has been developed and why it is not implemented properly,” the head of state said.

According to the president, the region has different natural conditions from the rest of the country. “The region has a lot of forests, then it needs to focus on timber processing, industry and so on. If the climate in Vitebsk Oblast is not very good for growing grain and legumes, then it needs to produce beef and milk. Orsha, Tolochin and Vitebsk District will be the best for cultivating grain, breeding hens and pigs. In fact, they do this. Discipline and proper organization are the only things they lack,” the head of state said. “In general, there are a lot of problems. You work there, you know these problems. I appreciate that you have decided to take up this post. We need results.”

Aleksandr Lukashenko also commented on attraction of labor resources to Vitebsk Oblast, including labor migrants from other countries: “It is time we stopped talking about labor resources. The resources [available in the country] must be encouraged to work. Sometimes there is lack of them. People are coming [to work in Belarus] not only from the southern regions of the former Soviet Union but also from Russia. We have some from Lithuania, Latvia, even from Poland. They come to us, willing to work. Local authorities should run checks on every family, every person on the spot. If you are satisfied, then hire them. I've already talked about it. So that there is no fuss that we are hiring strangers. If you don't want outsiders, then work yourself. We do not insist that people come from other countries. But we cannot do without them in Vitebsk Oblast. Labor migration is normal,” the president said.

“Poles are winding up the Belarusians self-exiled there. It is them who are most scared of migrant workers from Pakistan. They are afraid that some of these migrant workers will go to Poland. So I advise Poles and Lithuanians to cool off. No Afghans, Turkmens, Uzbeks or Tajiks will leave us. Those (who we admit) will live and work with us. No need to run amok winding up our people so that they make a fuss,” Aleksandr Lukashenko added.

belta.by