Expert: creative industries should work to strengthen national security
National security issues are in the focus of the state attention and among its priorities, and unsurprisingly, Belarus’ Economy Minister Yuri Chebotar emphasises that the creative economy is a new track to strengthen the Union State of Belarus and Russia. What needs to be done in this regard in the coming years?
“In the coming years, we will have to significantly ramp up the intellectual modernisation of our economy. Such a strategy is the only way to make a breakthrough and achieve a new quality of life, and I would even say, ensure the survival of any society,” President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko said at a ceremony of awarding Doctor of Science diplomas and Professor certificates on January 31st, 2025.
Evaluation criteria
Dozens of definitions are used to describe economic systems today: post-industrial, informational, market, regulated, innovative, intelligent, service, green, sustainable, low-carbon, digital, and more. The creative economy is on the same list.
Interestingly, each of these definitions has many active supporters and serious critics. For example, those advocating the market liberalism, which relies on bizarre mathematical calculations, assert with vim and vigour that there is nothing better in the world than the free market economy. They are reasonably belittled by adherents of the Chinese and Belarusian models, which have strong government regulation and demonstrate obvious successes.
In turn, proponents of the green economy are ready to voice dozens of arguments for minimising carbon dioxide emissions, while US President Donald Trump publicly calls their point of view the ‘green new scam’. Moreover, he officially brands the fight against global warming as ‘the greatest con job’ in history.
The situation in the world is challengeable today. Unprecedented pressure on Belarus continues. Therefore, when choosing development directions, the republic always acts carefully and calmly, since not even the slightest error should be made.
The country is guided not by fashion and other irrational factors, but solely by its national interests. The latter, in turn, strongly dictate the main evaluation criterion to us – which is the economic and social efficiency.
Moreover, in the current difficult conditions, the economic efficiency is primarily in focus, and this is the principled point of view of Belarus’ President who believes: ‘If there is an economy, people will live normally’.
Creative approach
Economic science has not yet developed a single, unambiguous, precise definition of the creative economy. Moreover, given it is a subset of the knowledge economy, it is more correct to talk about its constituent creative industries. All this can be interpreted as a special, specific segment of the economic system represented by the totality of its creative industries. It traditionally encompasses a wide range of sectors, including information, education, entertainment, content, advertising, marketing, architecture, crafts, design, fashion, music, theatre, art, libraries, galleries, and others.
A notable feature of these economic activities is their rapidly growing contribution to global GDP. According to UNESCO, such industries created $2.3 trillion worth of products worldwide in 2023. In 2025, the figure stood at $3 trillion (or about 3 percent of global GDP), and – as experts assert – it may reach 10 percent by 2030.
There is an important point here. The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) research states that the creative industries are developing differently around the globe. In some localities, they account for about 0.5 percent of GDP and employment of the total workforce, while in China, the United States and some other countries that are well on their way to the knowledge economy, these figures are significantly higher – up to 7.3 percent of GDP and 12.5 percent of the total number of jobs.
Art of making money
Given the current global threats – i.e. Western sanctions against Belarus, the technological embargo, and the military escalation of the situation near our borders – any processes and phenomena should be studied primarily from the perspective of their impact on the country’s economic and national security. At the same time, it is definitely important to weigh all the arguments for and against.
The creative technologies are based not on material resources, but on art, talent, and new ideas – all which the Belarusian people are rich with. In addition, the size of the creative economy correlates with how well the knowledge economy is formed in the country, since this matters for its quantification. According to the National Statistical Committee calculations, the share of the creative industries in Belarus makes about 5 percent of GDP already, and art, literature, music, advertising, architecture are at the core of this economy. As noted by Chairperson of the National Statistical Committee Inna Medvedeva in an interview with the Economics of Belarus magazine, this is an indicator of the development of the service sector and a clear sign of the transition to the economy of knowledge, innovation and intangible assets.
At the same time, it is necessary to take a balanced approach to stimulating the creative industries. Many of us have probably heard much of the super profits of various bloggers, pop stars, fashion and advertising experts, and so on. They are sometimes incomparable with the earnings of workers, villagers, teachers, doctors, and other persons engaged into the production of goods and services that are truly vital to the people. This can create prerequisites for the growth of social inequality. In addition, a threat of pumping scarce resources from the real sector of the economy, which is the true basis of the country’s economic and national security, to the creative sector (and further, possibly, abroad), is emerging.
Meanwhile, the creative industries may generate new technologies and software products to increase the efficiency of domestic industry, agriculture, construction, transport, and communications – and that’s definitely just another matter.
Accordingly, the phenomenon of the creative economy as a new track for the development of economic systems needs thoughtful political and economic reflection, and – as the Head of State emphasises – the economic efficiency with an emphasis on ensuring Belarus’ national security should be among the key criteria for such an assessment.
TO THE POINT
Creativity is the ability to generate fundamentally novel ideas, concepts or solutions by thinking outside the box, while industry stands for large-scale and high-volume manufacturing. Accordingly, the talk is about a special type of activity related to the production of unique goods and services, the commercial value of which is determined by the talent and innovative ideas of their creators.
By Valery Bainev, Doctor of Economics