BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

29/12/2007

Belarusian Authorities Rule Out Concessions To Vendors

Alyaksandr Kalinouski, who is head of the commercial department of the Minsk City Executive Committee, said at a meeting with a group of owners of small businesses on December 27 that there will not be any reversal of the presidential decree restricting the activities of small businesses, Belapan reported. "Nobody is preparing documents that would introduce alterations into it [the clause that bars certain business owners from hiring employees other than three family members as of January 1, 2008]," Kalinouski said. "This is the clear position of the leadership of the country, the government, and so on," he said, adding that the government might only take some measures to facilitate the re-registering of businesses as "private unitary enterprises." Most of the business owners present at the meeting left the hall in protest. Anatol Shumchanka, leader of the Perspektyva small-business association, said the vendors' problems will grow and protests are imminent. Shumchanka announced a protest rally in Minsk on January 10, 2008, and a "March of Entrepreneurs" later in the month. AM

Source:

http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2007/12/3-cee/cee-281207.asp