Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 5 December (BelTA) – Belarus is interested in restoring the volume of its trade with Russia’s Kursk Oblast up to $250 million. Prime Minister of Belarus Andrei Kobyakov made the statement as he met with Kursk Oblast Governor Alexander Mikhailov on 5 December, BelTA has learned.

Andrei Kobyakov said: “We strongly hope your visit will help us to even faster restore the volume of trade we had only recently — $250 million. This year’s dynamics is good but we believe that there are additional ways of making the trade turnover at least as high as the previous maximum figure.”

First and foremost, Belarus expects to export more mechanical engineering products to Kursk Oblast. More BelAZ trucks, MAZ trucks and buses, MTZ tractors, and Gomselmash harvesters have been sold to the Russian region this year. Belarus is also ready to offer electric buses and trolleybuses with autonomous motion. Various financial support options are available such as leasing, preferential lending terms, and so on.

Apart from that, there is an interest in advancing manufacturing cooperation. For instance, the Kursk-based company Sovtest ATE is working on joint projects with the Belarusian electronics group Planar. “We are strongly interested in promoting this kind of cooperation, all the more so, high-tech cooperation,” stressed the prime minister.

The sides can also expand cooperation in agriculture and civil engineering. Belarusian specialists have already built some homes in Kursk Oblast. Later on they could participate in the construction of two power-generating units of the Kursk nuclear power plant.

“There is a great number of cooperation areas. We have good prospects ahead of us. Our job is to implement this potential. We are ready to consider any proposals and implement them on a mutually beneficial basis,” concluded Andrei Kobyakov.

In turn, Alexander Mikhailov noted that today everything is being done through joint effort to overcome the recession in mutual trade and raise trade turnover with Belarus. Close cooperation between political units of Kursk Oblast and Belarusian regions will contribute to it.

In January-September 2017 Belarus’ trade with Kursk Oblast totaled $96.3 million, 40.5% up from the same period of last year. Belarus’ main exports were tires, potash fertilizers, synthetic fibers, trucks, and footwear.