MINSK, 21 March (BelTA) – The Belarusian Industry Ministry believes that the terms, on which Belarusian-Russian assembly enterprises in Russia can receive state support, are disadvantageous. Belarusian Industry Minister Pavel Utyupin made the relevant statement at a session of the Economic Policy Commission of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union State of Belarus and Russia on 21 March, BelTA has learned.
Belarusian-Russian assembly ventures and respectively new jobs have been created at premises of companies like Bryanskselmash and the Cherepovets casting and mechanical plant. Pavel Utyupin said: “Today these enterprises cannot use the support available in the Russian Federation. The legislation requires a certain set of technological operations to be performed in Russia. The terms will ultimately worsen the economic situation of both Belarusian companies and Russian ones.”
If these technological operations are relocated, the joint ventures will not have the necessary effect of the production scale that the Belarusian tractor maker MTZ can provide. Apart from that, manufacturing cooperation ties will be affected and purchases will be reduced.
Belarus has dragged the problem into spotlight before. If the joint ventures could use state support, they could offer cheaper vehicles, machines, and equipment to agricultural consumers in the end, Pavel Utyupin said. Terms have been renegotiated with the Russian Industry and Trade Ministry only for some models of forage harvesters for now. The Russian side does not want the enterprise at Bryanskselmash to become a competitor for Rostselmash, although in order to make grain harvesting tractors Bryanskselmash already performs 11 technological operations out of 15 ones, with the level of localization at 50%.
Participants of the session discussed the joint production of tractors at the Cherepovets casting and mechanical plant. There were plans to make 4,000 tractors in 2019. However, the relevant contract has not been signed in the end. MPs asked Pavel Utyupin to comment on the situation. He explained that negotiations had stumbled on the scheme to sell the tractors, the other matters are easily resolved. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Union State of Belarus and Russia intends to keep an eye on the situation and help advance the talks.
The Russian market needs a lot of agricultural machines every year. For instance, it needs 40,000 tractors alone. As much as 26,000 tractors were sold in 2018, with half of them of Belarusian make.
Participants of the session discussed the organization of work to record and register property created or acquired at the expense of the Union State budget. Problems encountered in the course of introduction and commercialization of results of Union State programs and projects were discussed.
Representatives of the Standing Committee of the Union State of Belarus and Russia, financial, economic, and oversight bodies of Belarus and Russia, the Russian Federation Industry and Trade Ministry, the Belarusian Industry Ministry, the Russian Science and Higher Education Ministry, and the State Science and Technology Committee of Belarus took part in the discussion.
Apart from that, today members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union State of Belarus and Russia are supposed to visit the Belarusian automobile engineering company BelAZ and the agricultural enterprise Ozeritsky-Agro in Smolevichi District, Minsk Oblast.
