Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 7 October (BelTA) - Belarus invites Saint Petersburg to develop manufacturing and investment cooperation, Belarus Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov said when speaking at the ninth meeting of the Belarus-Saint Petersburg Business Cooperation Council which is running today in Minsk, BelTA has learned.

Saint Petersburg is one of Belarus’ largest foreign trade partners among the Russian regions in terms of trade. However, recently the mutual trade has not matched the potential of Belarus and Saint Petersburg,” said the Prime Minister. In 2015 the trade decreased by 28%, and in January-August 2016 it went down by nearly 10%. “Given this situation I believe we need to create more effective models of cooperation. Belarus and Saint Petersburg have every opportunity for this,” Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov said.

One of the most promising areas of partnership is to promote cooperation between manufacturers of Belarus and St. Petersburg, including the establishment of joint ventures. “We have positive examples of such cooperation,” the Prime Minister said. A project to set up the joint production of elevators at Nevsky Lift enterprises has got traction. “The decision to allot the land plot for this promising joint venture has been taken already,” Andrei Kobyakov said.

OAO Belaz and PAO Zvezda have been working together on the development of engines for trucks. Vitebsk enterprises Monolit and Kulon Company have been also making progress in the project to start manufacturing electronic equipment. “Promising is the project of cooperation between the Baranovichi machine-tool plant and Komsomolskaya Pravda company to manufacture automatic molding machines. We visited this company early this year,” said Andrei Kobyakov

In his view, Belarus and Saint Petersburg can devise new schemes of manufacturing cooperation.

Belarus is also interested in the development of investment partnership with Saint Petersburg. For investors Belarus has created a favorable environment. “For example Detskoselsky Concern has implemented a range of agricultural projects in Vitebsk Oblast,” the Prime Minister said. “We are ready to engage in a substantive dialogue with other interested investors from Saint Petersburg,” the Belarusian Prime Minister added.