VITEBSK, 14 July (BelTA) – The Vitebsk-based factory Monolit successfully cooperates with its Russian investor. The experience should be studied and adopted in the Union State of Belarus and Russia, BelTA learned from State Secretary of the Union State of Belarus and Russia Grigory Rapota on 14 July.
Grigory Rapota said: “Yesterday we visited the unique enterprise Monolit and had the pleasure of watching the dynamics of its development. I see common trends of development of Belarusian-Russian economic relations in this. As a similar example I can also mention OAO Integral. These companies have direct access to government purchases and government defense contracts in Russia. This experience is extremely important for me because it needs to be studied and widely adopted. The outcome became possible due to two reasons. First, Russian investors, who know how to secure government contracts in Russia, got in touch with the Belarusian companies. Second, they offered the products, which are virtually non-existent in the ex-USSR, and became leaders in a certain technological niche.”
Grigory Rapota specified that apart from Belarusian food high-technology and science-intensive products made by the Belarusian manufacturing sector account for a large part of Belarus-Russia trade. According to Grigory Rapota, the Monolit factory lives up to this high standard, which is crucial to being able to successfully compete on the market. While the company's managers are wise, the municipal government has to be credited with the success as well since they greenlighted the investor's arrival. In Q1 2017 Belarus-Russia trade and economic cooperation increased by some 26% in comparison with Q1 2016. “Everyone is thinking hard whether it is a stable trend or a short-lived surge. I'd like to believe it's the former,” said Grigory Rapota.
The Vitebsk-based radio parts factory Monolit was established in 1958. It is Belarus' only manufacturer of multilayer ceramic capacitors and one of the leading CIS manufacturers. The company went public in 2009. In 2011 the Saint Petersburg-based company OAO Kulon bought the controlling interest in the Belarusian company. An investment contract was signed. The document provided for complex modernization of the production of capacitors, temperature-sensitive resistors, and for expanding the choice of passive electronic components. In 2016 Monolit sold over Br12 million worth of merchandise in effective prices, with the share of innovative products close to 23%. The profitability of sales exceeded 12.2%. The company exports some 96% of the output. The exports are sold primarily in Russia, with the rest sold in ex-USSR countries.
Union State Day took place as part of the 26th international art festival Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk on 14 July. In the morning Grigory Rapota took part in the ceremony to lay flowers and wreaths at a Great Patriotic War memorial.
