Presidential Decree No. 466 validating the Program of social and economic development of the Republic of Belarus for the period of 2016-2020.

Program of social and economic development of the Republic of Belarus for the period of 2016-2020 is a multisectoral policy document, which determines the goals, objectives, priorities and expected results of social and economic development of the Republic of Belarus. The Program is aimed at the rapid restoration of sustainable economic growth in the Republic of Belarus and bringing the standard of living and quality of life of the country's population closer to the developed countries of the world. The Republic of Belarus, while maintaining the continuity of goals and priorities of previous years, will proceed from the need to restore economic growth in the current five years, including through improving the structure of the economy, the development of the private sector of the economy, and increasing the efficiency of public administration and employment.
The main goal of the country's development for 2016-2020 is to improve the quality of life of the population by increasing the competitiveness of the economy, attracting investment and innovative development. To achieve these goals, the country's development will be based on the following priorities: creation of new jobs and provision of effective employment; effective employment is the basis for the growth of labor productivity, incomes of the population and, most importantly, the guarantee of social stability in the society. It is planned to employ at least 50,000 people annually in newly created jobs, taking into account the maximum use of the competitive advantages of traditional sectors of the economy and industries based on the use of local raw materials. Measures in the field of labor remuneration will be aimed at the consistent increase of its real level, reduction of the gap between the wages of employees of budgetary organizations and the average wage in the economy. It is planned to improve the mechanism of material support for the unemployed by linking the amount of the unemployment benefit to the minimum subsistence budget, and to introduce an unemployment insurance system.
In agriculture, the transition to precision farming is planned, based on the extensive use of data from satellite communication and navigation systems, automated information collection and process management systems. The main directions of implementation of this innovative technology in crop production will be: (a) development of express-analysis devices for determination of nutrient content in soil and creation of electronic maps of agricultural land of the Republic of Belarus; and (b) manufacture and implementation of precision farming systems, including purchase thereby of available agricultural machinery and equipment. Strategic goal in the sphere of financing of agricultural sector shall financial recovery of agricultural enterprises. In order to increase the competitiveness of organizations of the agro-industrial complex, it is planned to actively create large cooperative that combine production of agricultural raw materials, processing and marketing of final products, including food companies (holdings). Processing industry organizations will become cooperation and integration centers. At the same time, the emphasis will be placed on the creation of vertically integrated production facilities in the sugar, fat-and-oil, meat, dairy and flax processing industries for the production of products with high benefit.
The strategic goal of the country's forestry development is to increase the volume of timber harvesting in 2020 compared to 2015 by 18 percent per 1 hectare of forestland. The objectives of the forest sector shall be to increase forest productivity and ensuring supply of timber and other forest products to the national economy and to the population.
Priority areas for the development of the "green" economy in the Republic of Belarus will be: (a) creation of conditions and appropriate infrastructure for the development of "green" transport; (b) stimulation of production of ecologically clean agricultural products, organic agriculture; and (c) promotion of sustainable production and consumption, including through the development of environmental certification, introduction of environmental labels, preferential support and stimulation of "green" public procurement, creation of "green" jobs in the regions, implementation of eco-innovations.