Lukashenko demands scientists to be ahead of time

Belarus’ science should be ahead of its time rather than lagging behind – as stated by President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko during today’s meeting with the working group analysing the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) activities

Starting the conversation, the Head of State outlined its topics in detail, “I have already said many times that the country is at a stage of development when it is impossible to make any progress without science. Therefore, science is a top priority.”

Meanwhile, the President pointed out that it would be wrong to say that fundamental and applied scientific research are not carried out in Belarus. At the same time, the Head of State explained why a high-level working group has been set up under the leadership of the State Control Committee Chairman to study the situation in the scientific field and, primarily, in the Academy of Sciences.

“I have just said that we give science all the priorities. Development is impossible without it. However, I have seen recently that the Academy of Sciences has made serious mistakes,” the Head of State noted.

At the same time, Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasised that some miscalculations in the scientific field can be understood, but not all, “Science is such a thing when you have to walk the untrodden paths, when it is necessary to master serious problems, to take serious heights. Therefore, of course, mistakes are possible. But what alarmed me was that these mistakes were made by the NAS where they should not be, where we’ve already learnt something, e.g., in animal husbandry and crop production. Scientific and practical centres have also been established at the NAS, which work no better than other relevant facilities that exist outside the Academy of Sciences, but should be the best.”

According to the President, many appeals from scientists themselves, some specialists, and members of the Government convince that it is necessary to seriously look at the development of academic science and make appropriate decisions.

“These should be adopted across all areas: both personnel decisions and elections of the NAS corresponding members are coming, we must pay serious attention to this,” the President underlined.

Aleksandr Lukashenko pointed out that he would not like the current event to be perceived as some kind of action against the NAS, “No, we need to take a very serious approach to studying the NAS problems and make corresponding decisions. I’m talking about this for the third time, because we can’t do else without science. We live in an era of unprecedented development opportunities for our country. These opportunities are enormous; we can’t miss them. There is a stable base, as there are certain results both in traditional industries and in new areas of the economy. However, it will be impossible to rise to the next level without a real breakthrough in science. Science should be ahead of time rather than lagging behind.”

Aleksandr Lukashenko pointed out that from the first days of his presidency, he put the work of scientists at the forefront of all life transformations. 

[to be updated]