MINSK, 27 January (BelTA) – Belarus and Mongolia have signed a memorandum of cooperation. The document was signed by Belarusian Transport and Communications Minister Aleksei Avramenko and Mongolian Road and Transport Development Minister Byambasuren Enkh-Amgalan in Minsk on 27 January, BelTA has learned.
The memorandum will be in effect for five years. It provides for advancing Belarus-Mongolia cooperation and for implementing joint projects. The sides also came to a verbal agreement to encourage investments for enabling free conditions for transportation in the sphere of transport and logistics.
“Belarus and Mongolia are connected by rather good mutual relations,” Aleksei Avramenko said after the meeting. “Particularly if we talk about joint projects in the sphere of transport.” Belarus and Mongolia maintain automobile transport relations. In 2019 Belarus truckers used 744 universal permits (24.2% up from 2018) while Mongolian ones used 331 permits (51.1% up).
As for cooperation in transportation by rail, it develops progressively. More than 50,000 tonnes of freight was transported between Belarus and Mongolia in 2019, 7% up from 2018. “Today we can say there are reserves for increasing transit by rail. We are primarily talking about container transportation,” Aleksei Avramenko said. The sides believe the volume can be increased by several times and the relevant opportunities are available for it.
The items on the agenda also include a number of proposals concerning transportation by air and personnel training. The Mongolian side is interested in buying Belarusian road construction machines and MAZ vehicles. The foreign partners are also interested in Belarus' experience concerning road maintenance and repairs.
It was noted that cold resource-saving technologies are becoming increasingly used in the world for repairing and maintaining automobile roads. Belarus can use such technologies. The state enterprise BeldorNII takes care of adaptation, development, and oversight over work to assimilate the technologies. The Mongolian side was invited to adapt cold technologies to its weather and climate conditions, to materials and mechanisms of Mongolia in addition to organizing personnel training in Belarus.
