Belarus ready to share experience in state building, social policy

Belarus is ready to share its experience with foreign partners in state building, best practices in building up the public service and developing an effective social policy, Deputy Head of the Belarus President Administration Igor Buzovsky told BelTA as he attended the international conference "The role of public service in achieving the sustainable development goals" in Minsk on 20 November.

"Belarus studies the best foreign practices, modern human resources technologies and measures to develop the public service. But we are proud of our own achievements in state building and public service. Belarus is ready to share its achievements," said Igor Buzovsky. "I would like to note that the Republic of Belarus has vast experience and long-standing traditions in the organization of the effective work of involving public servants in state building. In my opinion, the conference delegates should listen to foreign partners. But they also should organize an effective exchange of experience that will be useful for a broad range of countries. Belarus has something to say and to offer," he noted.

Belarusian public servants are highly-qualified. Igor Buzovsky stressed that there are many women among government officials. Almost half of the heads of government agencies in Belarus are women. The majority of public officers in Belarus are aged between 30 and 49. Young professionals are regularly recruited.

"Thereby, the Belarusian system of government is an effective, compact, and constantly reinvigorated structure. The government staff in Belarus has been reduced in recent years, which has streamlined the state apparatus," Igor Buzovsky added.

He pointed out that evaluation of the moral qualities and professional skills of a potential employee should be one of the main elements of the public sector recruitment policy in Belarus. "It should be in this exact order. A person's moral qualities should become one of the main criteria when recruiting public officers. If we make this a priority, the approaches to combating corruption, confronting scroungers, and eliminating the consumer's attitude to the work and the state will definitely change," he said.

According to Igor Buzovsky, the discussion of the issues concerning the public service cannot ignore a very important factor: the standards and approaches which are common in one country are often not accepted in another.

The conference in Minsk discussed the Sustainable Development Goals which include 17 major challenges to the society. However, according to Igor Buzovsky, some issues voiced by the UNDP representatives are not topical for Belarus and a number of other states.

"As for the eradication of poverty, starvation, reduction of inequality, these issues are not so pressing for Belarus because these stages were behind us long ago and relevant lectures are not so topical for us today. Belarus is ready to join efforts with other members of the global community to work out the approaches to the resolution of other modern challenges which have not been included in the 17 Sustainable Development Goals," the deputy head of the Belarus President Administration stressed.

BELARUSIAN NEWS