Opinions & Interviews

MOGILEV, 12 May (BelTA) – We need to resume the practice of holding of the Union State government meetings twice a year, Belarus Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov said at a meeting of the Belarus-Russia Union State Council of Ministers in Mogilev, BelTA has learned.

“I hope that today's meeting, which we are holding in the first half of the year, will help us implement another agreement, which is to resume the practice of holding government meetings twice a year. There are many pressing issues and we need to intensify the intergovernmental dialogue in the Union State,” he said.

He welcomed the Russian delegation in Mogilev, where, as he said, the history of the peoples of Belarus and Russia is closely intertwined. “Today the level of cooperation we have achieved is worthy of the memory of the glorious victories of our ancestors, at Saltanovka near Mogilev at the beginning of the Patriotic War of 1812 and in the Buinichi Field in 1941,” he said.

According to Andrei Kobyakov, Mogilev Oblast is a success story of the Belarus-Russia interregional cooperation. “More than $1.8 billion in trade with Russia was achieved last year (a very uneasy year for the economies of our countries). Industrial cooperation has been developing effectively. In Mogilev Oblast there are the joint ventures and assembling facilities: OOO MLM Nevsky Elevator, Omsk Carbon Mogilev,” the Prime Minister noted.

The Belarusian head of government stated that Mogilev enterprises cooperate with Russian partners in mechanical engineering, chemical industry, construction and transport sectors, light manufacturing. They also supply Russia with food and agricultural raw materials.