Business news

MINSK, 4 October (BelTA) – Belarus and Poland should step up efforts to prepare joint projects in the transport industry, Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Anatoly Kalinin said as he met with Minister of Maritime Economy and Inland Navigation Marek Grobarczyk and Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Development Justyna Skrzydlo on 4 October, BelTA has learned.

“Belarus and Poland are connected by a big number of transport arteries – bridges and motorways. As far as the development of the transport infrastructure is concerned, we are colleagues, not rivals. We have common interests in a number of fields. It is essential to step up efforts to prepare joint projects, work out solutions to unify our strategies and resources and to implement these projects in the near future. It would be great to do it in 2016-2020,” the vice premier stressed.

Anatoly Kalinin remarked that the two sides need to solve a number of complicated issues, in particular, those concerning the modernization of motorways and bridges which were built some time ago and are not designed to handle such an intensive traffic. He cited a bridge at the Domachevo border checkpoint as an example. “Belarus pays a lot of attention to the development of the air, road, and railway transportation infrastructure; the country is interested in having modern transport routes. We would like to ensure the necessary speed of transportation and cargo processing for business,” the vice premier explained and added that the cooperation with Poland in this field is also important.

“In October I will have the talks on the development of infrastructure projects in Brussels with two EU Commissioners. Among other things, we will discuss the development of our transboundary transit corridors. In this context, Belarus and Poland need to cooperate to voice joint proposals which will benefit the two states at the level of the European Commission,” Anatoly Kalinin concluded.

Minister of Maritime Economy and Inland Navigation Marek Grobarczyk reminded that in the past 15 years there have not been such active contacts in the transport industry between Belarus and Poland yet. “We managed to lay the foundation of long-term cooperation. We have already signed memorandums in many fields, will create working groups in charge of these areas,” he said. A three-stage action plan has been outlined. The first stage is the resolution of current issues, first of all, connected with customs clearance, the movement of goods and people. The second step is needed to determine joint plans of the two countries; the third one is the fulfillment of these plans.

“We would like to promote cooperation in all fields, such as the road, railway, and air transportation, Belarus’ inland navigation via Polish ports. I thinks that our proposals will be rather attractive for the Belarusian side; this pertains to the simplification of movement across the territory of Poland, better navigability of rivers,” he said.