Entrepreneur asks Lukashenka for appointement to push for change

Katsyaryna Chyzhyk, entrepreneur and a member of the entrepreneurship development council under the Belarusian president, has filed a letter with the Office of the President seeking an appointment with the head of the state. The European Radio for Belarus has learned that the two met for the last time two years ago.

Katsyaryna says she has managed to delivery her letter directly because of her official status on the entrepreneurship council. A private person must send correspondence by post.

“First of all, I was given the address of the letters department. Today in the afternoon, I will be able to find out who will personally process it. Secondly, I hope that I will receive an answer”.

To back up herself, Katsyaryna also sent her letter to the media. She is prepared to meet the president even today and is going to base the conversation on her own experience.

“My own example is important. Basing on it, I will be able to tell about the situation of sole entrepreneurs in the country in general. Moreover, I remain in close contact with entrepreneurs and also chair a council on small-size businesses at the Belarusian Union of Entrepreneurs. Naturally, they approach me and ask to take part in all the processes”.

The last time Katsyaryna met with the president was two years ago, when Lukashenka was visiting the Malinauka trade center in Minsk. On that occasion, she spoke out and asked him difficult questions.

Will this meeting, if it happens, yield any results? Katsyaryna says she doesn’t know if she will be able to turn the president to her side.

In the letter, Katsyaryna did not set the format of meeting. It could be either tête-à-tête or the president would call the whole entrepreneurship council.

“I had to come up with an initiative and I did it. Getting this meeting would be the most important thing regardless of the format”.

Katsyaryna Chyzh told our radio earlier that she was not satisfied with the simplified procedure of re-registration into a private unitary enterprise. She said she would remain a sole entrepreneur. Katsyaryna trades bed linen from her two outlets.

“I did not and am not going to change my status into a unitary enterprise. The conditions that the government has created for a legal entity are simply unrealistic. It makes more sense to close down the business rather than go bankrupt one month after registration”.