Business news

MINSK, 20 April (BelTA) – Belarus and Nizhny Novgorod Oblast intend to step up cooperation in making automobile components. Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko made the statement during the 15^th session of the council for business cooperation between Belarus and Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod Oblast on 20 April, BelTA has learned.

Vladimir Semashko noted: “We have agreed that we should develop a serious program on automobile components. Nizhny Novgorod Oblast is good at it while Belarus has a holding company that specializes in making automobile components. We should think about long-term cooperation, make absolutely competitive products as far as prices and quality are concerned.”

In 2016 Belarus and Nizhny Novgorod Oblast managed to increase the bilateral trade in comparison with the previous year. The official underlined that the sides have yet to engage all the reserves. “The things we agree on should be implemented as soon as possible,” Vladimir Semashko believes.

The deputy prime minister stated that Russia is busy preparing for hosting the 2018 world football championship and Nizhny Novgorod Oblast will offer venues for this event. Vladimir Semashko reiterated that Belarus is ready to supply urban transport to Nizhny Novgorod, including vehicles powered by gas fuel. He also offered Belarusian civil engineering services to the Russian region.

Cooperation in agriculture was also discussed during the meeting. Vladimir Semashko underlined that Belarus boasts vast experience of agriculture development. “In the Soviet times the Belarusian agriculture employed 1.068 million people. Last year the Belarusian agriculture employed 380,000 people. We’ve managed to rack up the output of many kinds of foods. Performance has increased thanks to new machines and technologies,” said the deputy prime minister. He also mentioned Nizhny Novgorod Oblast’s accomplishments in this sphere.

In turn, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast Governor Valery Shantsev remarked that the choice in favor of advancing cooperation with Belarus had proven its farsightedness. “Year by year, step by step we’ve been advancing our cooperation in various spheres, achieving good results. Belarus is the number one country among all the countries we work with. It is the country, with which we have achieved the greatest accomplishments. We refer to Belarus as an example to follow all the time. Now we intend to raise the bilateral trade turnover to $1 billion. Today we should analyze all the areas of work that we’ve been managing to advance together in order to secure the trends and multiply accomplishments,” Valery Shantsev stated.