Changes in the U.S.S.R.‘s economic market have prompted seven Soviet delegates to learn about small businesses in America.

“Small enterprises will play a vital role in creation of a free market,” said Valentin Kihhaylovich Vologzhin, the chairman of the Soviet Union’s Committee on Economic Reform.

Vologzhin said the Soviet Union has begun to reconsider its emphasis on large-scale manufacturing and is now embracing small businesses.

He said this will hopefully create more competition and thus a better Soviet product.

Vologzhin, one of seven delegates from the Soviet Union, spoke in the Holmes Student Center yesterday. The delegation was in DeKalb to learn about American small businesses. Vologzhin said he was impressed with our government’s support of these businesses.

Laws are being passed in the Soviet Union to help promote small businesses, but his country still needs U.S. input, Vologzhin said.

Vitaliy Yuriyevich Ozira, a consultant to the State Commission on Economic Reform and specialist on administration and training of administrative personnel, said the Soviet Union lacks the business education programs necessary for economic expansion.

Most business education in the Soviet Union is superficial, Ozira said. He joked that he has seen ads for a course called “Teaching Business in Two Days.” The Soviet Union needs quality business training in order to produce quality products, he said.

“We have a tremendous market” of Soviet-made goods, Ozira said. The only problem is a limited supply of Soviet currency to buy the goods, he said.