About the "Regional Initiative" was told by Zinaida Lobanovskaya, Deputy Chair of the Dribin District Executive Committee

Savetskaya Veshka, June 18, 2025, 12:55 — How the digital platform "Regional Initiative" can help business was explained by Zinaida Lobanovskaya, Deputy Chair of the Dribin District Executive Committee.

In 2025, through the transformation of the program "One District — One Project," a new mechanism for supporting investment projects called "Regional Initiative" was introduced.

Zinaida Mikhailovna noted:

— To date, the "Regional Initiative" is a new tool for realizing business ideas of small and medium-sized enterprises. The financing tool is the credit product "Investment Development," provided by OJSC "Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus," OJSC "ASB Belarusbank," OJSC "Bank Dabrabyt," OJSC "Belarusian Bank of Development and Reconstruction 'Belinvestbank,'" and OJSC "Belagroprombank" for the implementation of effective and financially viable investment projects and business ideas included in the "Regional Initiative" list.

The "Regional Initiative" list is formed on the basis of applications from organizations, submitted on the online platform of the Belarusian Fund for Financial Support of Entrepreneurs in the form of scanned copies.

Lending terms: loan currency — Belarusian ruble; the credit agreement is concluded for the payback period of the investment project, but no more than 15 years; interest rate: no more than 8 percent per annum, for agrarian districts such as Dribin District — no more than 6.5 percent per annum.

The period for reviewing an organization's application for inclusion in the "Regional Initiative" list is no more than 25 days from the date of its submission.

Among the criteria for inclusion of investment projects in the list, the following stand out: the applicant organization is a small or medium-sized enterprise (entered in the relevant registry) as of the date of application submission, and the project is implemented in the territories of the regions (excluding regional centers and Minsk, as well as the territories adjacent to them).

Such projects must ensure the creation of new production facilities (workshops) or the modernization (technical re-equipment, expansion) of existing ones. Or the creation of commercial facilities for transport and logistics infrastructure, tourism and recreation, and medical services. The implementation of complex projects that include the creation of industrial facilities and public catering establishments is also possible.

Another criterion is the creation of at least five new jobs or the employment of at least five additional people in existing jobs for new production facilities (workshops).

As of early June, 88 applications had already been received for inclusion in the pool of investment projects under the "Regional Initiative," and 39 of them have been given the green light. This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Economy. The Ministry of Economy informs that the acceptance of applications with promising business ideas is ongoing. You can submit your project "in a few clicks" on the portal "regionalnaya-initsiativa.bel". For additional consultation, SMEs of the Dribin district have the right to contact the economics department of the Dribin district executive committee by phone 79965, 79020.

Tatyana ADYLOVA