Business news

Belarus, Russia eager to develop high-speed railway service

ST PETERSBURG, 17 July (BelTA) – Belarus and Russia intend to develop high-speed railway service, BelTA learned from Deputy Chairwoman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus Marianna Shchetkina on 17 July.

A proposal in favor of developing high-speed railway service was put forward at a session of the interparliamentary commission for interregional cooperation of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus and the Federation Council of Russia on 17 July. “I am referring to the branch between St Petersburg, Moscow, and Minsk. Making a transit corridor out of it is the idea,” Marianna Shchetkina said.

“It is a very interesting proposal, which will be looked into and suggested for consideration of the heads of state,” she noted.

Participants of the session summed up results of implementation of the decisions made during the 5th Forum of Regions of Belarus and Russia, which took place in Mogilev. Participants of the session and representatives of the relevant government agencies also discussed the development of the transport potential and the modernization of the relevant infrastructure of the Union State of Belarus and Russia. Attention was drawn to the problems the Belarusian and Russian transport ministries have been working on together with other agencies concerned for about one year. A plan to resolve all the issues was put together. “A great deal of positive work was done,” Marianna Shchetkina said.

In turn, Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation Yuri Vorobyev said that forums of regions give an opportunity to make important decisions for the sake of developing the Union State of Belarus and Russia. Over 218 agreements have been signed during such forums. Four agreements were signed between councils of deputies of regions of Belarus and legislative assemblies of Russia as a result of the session of the interparliamentary commission. Contracts worth over $1.5 billion have been signed during these forums.

This year’s Forum of Regions of Belarus and Russia is dedicated to forming common humanitarian and cultural space. The interparliamentary commission did not miss this topic. An agreement was reached on arranging joint events in honor of the 75th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. A common plan will be put together by 1 October.

print version

make home page

add to bookmarks