Business news

MINSK, 15 April (BelTA) – Belarus and Ivanovo Oblast intend to considerably step up trade and economic cooperation. The statement was made by Prime Minister of Belarus Andrei Kobyakov as he met with Pavel Konkov, Governor of Russia’s Ivanovo Oblast, on 15 April, BelTA has learned.

Andrei Kobyakov noted: “Direct ties with constituent territories of the Russian Federation represent the foundation of trade and economic relations between Belarus and Russia. Ivanovo Oblast has been a partner of Belarus for a long time. In the present complicated economic conditions our trade turnover may be small — about $100 million — but we expect we will be able to find ways to noticeably add to the figure. Moreover, this year’s dynamics indicates that we can hope for a positive result.”

The Belarusian head of government underlined that Belarus and Ivanovo Oblast should invigorate the development of trade relations. “We can offer virtually the entire range of mechanical engineering products to our partners. The product range includes agricultural machines, passenger vehicles, utility vehicles, road construction machines, and haul trucks. We know that all of them are in demand in Ivanovo Oblast,” said Andrei Kobyakov.

The Belarusian head of government also said that Belarus is ready to supply processing equipment for the food industry.

“We have a well-developed petrochemical industry. You are going to upgrade a number of industries in Ivanovo Oblast. Let’s talk about it to avoid repeating each other’s decisions and competing in the areas where we could complement each other instead of setting up parallel enterprises,” said the Prime Minister.

Andrei Kobyakov remarked that the Belarusian light industry concern Bellegprom is interested in cooperation with colleagues from Ivanovo Oblast, which is believed to be the development center of the Russian light industry.

“We are aware of the large-scale program on developing agriculture and regulating markets of agricultural products, raw materials and food in Ivanovo Oblast. We expect that our tractors, grain and forage harvesters will come in handy for the program’s implementation. We are ready to contribute on any terms via tenders. We are ready to offer our machines. They are competitive indeed,” assured Andrei Kobyakov.

The Belarusian head of government also suggested selling passenger vehicles powered by gas engines to Ivanovo Oblast. “It is one of the emerging trends in Russia and Belarus. We are not going to sell vehicles without prior experience. Such vehicles are in use in Minsk. We know that they produce good results,” stated the Belarusian head of government.

Andrei Kobyakov also mentioned manufacturing cooperation projects in the production sphere as another branch of development of trade and economic cooperation. As a case in point he mentioned Ivanovets cranes, which are mounted on MAZ chassis. “Let’s get together and push the project forward. Let’s find ways and areas where we could complement each other via manufacturing cooperation schemes,” he suggested.

The Belarusian head of government noted that Belarus is ready to work together with Ivanovo Oblast to build and operate dairy farms. Andrei Kobyakov invited Ivanovo Oblast representatives to visit the agribusiness expo Belagro 2016.

According to the Prime Minister, Belarus and Russia’s Ivanovo Oblast can work together in the civil engineering industry, too. “There are quite many examples of Belarusian construction companies taking part in the implementation of projects involving housing construction and other applications in Russia. We have a good track record of operating in non-CIS states, even overseas operations. We have powerful construction companies that can build facilities of any kind you wish,” assured Andrei Kobyakov.

In turn, Pavel Konkov thanked Andrei Kobyakov for the meeting and said he hopes for fruitful cooperation.

In 2015 Belarus’ trade with Russia’s Ivanovo Oblast totaled $72.8 million, 23.1% down from 2014. In January-February 2016 the bilateral trade amounted to $7.5 million, 20.6% up from the same period of last year.