Lukashenko said “dosvidos” to McDonald’s

Lukashenko said “dovidos” to companies from unfriendly countries that left the Belarusian market, in particular McDonald’s, saying that Belarus “will sort it out on its own.” He believes that foreigners should not have the right to sell businesses

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If companies from unfriendly countries leave the Belarusian market, then the republic can “sort out on its own” with their property, President ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO said at a meeting with the government.

“We agreed: we do not sell or transfer any property to anyone if, as a result of sanctions or some other reasons, foreigners who have property, enterprises, companies here leave our market. As I said, goodbye - we will figure it out ourselves. And, as McDonald’s shows, we have figured this out perfectly: people are happy to go there,” he said.

Lukashenko added that the main thing in this issue is safety, “food should be healthy.” He noted that Belarus can and should engage in import substitution in segments left by foreign investors. The HEAD of state cited McDonald's as an example. According to him, at the beginning of the introduction of sanctions, “walkers came to him”: “We won’t be able... We can’t cut a bun in half and stuff sausage or MEAT into it,French fries - and we can't do that. We can’t do anything,” BelTA quotes Lukashenko as saying.

“Potatoes - well, we’re bulbash. Bake this bun - in our childhood there were enough of these buns, we bought them for a few kopecks, and it was tasty and normal. Can’t we cut a bun in half and stuff meat, potatoes or salad in there? <...> We started preparing what McDonald's has always traditionally prepared for us. <...> The question arises: are you fooling yourselves into thinking that this is impossible, that you need to sell it to someone?” - Lukashenko emphasized.

This issue was discussed within the framework of the relaxations proposed by the government of Belarus in matters of the sale of property by firms from unfriendly states. “The government proposes to show more flexibility (I don’t know how much more bending can be done here) in matters of the sale of property by foreigners from unfriendly countries and to provide for cases when this is possible. It’s never possible,” said the Belarusian leader.

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He recalled that to protect the economy of Belarus “from the lawlessness of the West,” a number of documents were adopted that do not allow business owners with citizenship of an unfriendly country to “sell property, exposing the fixed assets of the economy,” without special permission from the government and a contribution to the budget.

In November 2022, the KSB Victory Restaurants company, which manages the McDonald's restaurant chain in the country, announced that the establishments would move under the Vkusno-i Tochka brand, which appeared in RUSSIA after the chain left the market. At the beginning of last year, restaurants resumed work under the sign “We are open!”, and in April the chain was renamed Mak.by.