During a visit to the ‘Minotor Service’, a private production and trade unitary enterprise, President Lukashenka said that the state should not treat the private sector as rivals and requested to provide support for private enterprises. The president is attempting to relief tension in Belarusian society caused by the opposition of SMEs with the state. The president has outlined sectors and forms of private businesses the most suitable for the government - export-oriented medium and large business. Yet the authorities have not demonstrated the intent to make significant concessions to SMEs and meet their cornerstone demand - to cancel or postpone the ban on trade in imported goods without supporting documents. For instance, throughout the week entrepreneurs were denied a meeting venue to hold the next business forum. The authorities are counting on the gradual extinction of SME protest activity, which is localized in the regions and does not extend to the capital.
