Business news

MINSK, 7 February (BelTA) - Belarus is ready to offer a wide range of equipment to Kostroma Oblast, Belarus Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov said as he met with Governor of Russia’s Kostroma Oblast Sergei Sitnikov, BelTA has learned.

“Russia’s Kostroma Oblast has been a long-standing reliable partner of Belarus. However, we have not yet used all the reserves to the full. In 2015 the bilateral trade was about $100 million. In 2016 we saw the trend towards stabilization. We are aware that these figures do not match the potential that we have,” Andrei Kobyakov said. In that connection, he suggested discussing the ways of addressing the issues in order to bolster trade and economic cooperation.

Belarus is ready to offer Kostroma Oblast advanced road, construction, utilities and passenger vehicles and also various financial mechanisms such as leasing, concessional lending. “These mechanisms of promoting Belarusian goods have long been used in the market of the Russian Federation. We can discuss this topic and look for possibilities of cooperation,” Andrei Kobyakov added.

Industrial cooperation with Kostroma Oblast holds good prospects too, the Belarusian head of government believes. There are successful examples of such cooperation, for example, between Minsk Motor Plant and Kostroma Plant of Automotive Components. “For the time being the cooperation is across a small nomenclature, but this interaction can be expanded. We know that you are interested in the machine-tool industry products. We have certain suggestions in this respect,” the Prime Minister said. Belarus and Kostroma Oblast could jointly manufacture the products that could be in demand not only in the Eurasian Economic Union but also beyond.

In the agrarian sector Belarus is ready to share the technologies of cultivation and processing of farm produce and also would like to study the experience of Kostroma Oblast in this field. Russian region shows an interest in Belarusian farm machines – grain and fodder harvesters. Belarus can provide any equipment for light soil and climatic conditions of Kostroma Oblast. In recent years, the country has built many new dairy farms, cattle-breeding complexes-and is ready to share this experience with the Russian partners. Mutual supplies of food are also of interest.

Belarus and Kostroma Oblast can also develop cooperation in the construction and utilities sectors. “We hold a strong foothold on the Russian market of housing construction. There are Belarusian-built residential quarters in Kaluga. There are similar plans for Novgorod Oblast and Pskov Oblast. We also take part in housing construction projects in Leningrad oblast,” Andrei Kobyakov noted.

Belarus and Kostroma Oblast are also set to develop cooperation in tourism, education, and science.

In turn, Sergei Sitnikov took note of a busy schedule of his trip to Belarus and expressed confidence in stepping up bilateral cooperation in all the areas. The Kostroma Oblast Governor praised the quality of the Belarusian equipment, including electric buses. “Well done. Low floor, warm and comfortable, just what people need. We took a ride today and were impressed,” Sergei Sitnikov said. The governor also emphasized the prospects for launching the supplies of trolleybuses, Amkodor equipment.

The Belarusian Government and the Kostroma Oblast Administration are set to sign an agreement on trade, economic, sci-tech, social and cultural cooperation following the meeting.