Entrepreneurs in Homel set up joint group with officials to tackle conflict

The protesting self-employed entrepreneurs in Homel have agreed with the local authorities to set up a joint group to resolve the current conflict between the government and the vendors.

Euroradio reported earlier nearly 500 people had gathered earlier on Monday for a spontaneous protest in front of the regional administration headquarters. About 300 people later went to a venue provided by the House of Culture for talks with the deputy chairman of Homel Regional Executive Committee Baliaslau Pirshtuk. BelaPAN reports the conversation lasted for more than two hours.

The vendors said at the meeting wth the officials that they were unable to operate normally under President's Edict No 222 in effect since January 1, 2016. They demand it to be abolished. The region'a deputy head noted tat out of 28000 self-employed entrepreneurs registered in the region, only approximately 6000 vendors were affected by the edict.

Anatol Zmitrovich who heads the analytcal center of National Confederation of Entrepreneurship proposed to set up a working group to address the situation. Pirshtuk agreed and said that as soon as the protesters provided the list of those nominated for the group, the authorities would add officials from the tax authiority and other agencies to the group within the next two days. The working group would then gather to discuss the situation.