MINSK, 28 November (BelTA) - Governor of Russia's Primorye Territory Oleg Kozhemyako told the media after the meeting with Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko in Minsk on 28 November that he expected further growth in mutual trade with Belarus and development of the commodity distribution network of Belarusian manufacturers in the region, BelTA has learned.
According to Oleg Kozhemyako, a governmental delegation of Primorye visit Belarus once a year to see how the cooperation is developing in various areas. “A meeting with the Belarusian leader always gives an additional impetus and speeds up all the processes that are going on here. That is why a visit to Belarus is a must to us,” he said.
One of the places the Primorye delegation always visit is the Belagro exhibition, where important agreements are reached on the supply of food and agricultural products and machinery for the agro-industrial complex. This gives positive results. According to the governor, Primorye residents have found Belarusian products to be very tasty and of high quality, and in recent years, food supplies from Belarus to Primorye increased eightfold (from 2019 to 2021). By the end of 2022, this growth will be even more significant.
Oleg Kozhemyako also emphasized the growing interest in the products of Belarusian industrial enterprises. For example, in January-October 2022 Primorye Territory bought some 109 vehicles, including 21 BelAZ trucks with a payload capacity of 130 tonnes. There is also interest in municipal vehicles and passenger transport. “We are interested in electric buses,” said Oleg Kozhemyako. “The city [Vladivostok] has asked to negotiate the purchase of about 15 of them.
Work continues to establish a service center in Vladivostok, where about 40 units of various Belarusian-made machinery will be on display at a single site. The governor is convinced that this will be followed by the development of the distribution network of Belarusian enterprises: “Once the trade increases Belarusian producers will come to the Primorye land to sell their products”. According to him, the exhibition site will have room to present the products of other Belarusian industries, including products of the country's light industry. “We are already making the first step in this direction - an exhibition area is under development, including for the service and sale, with equipment to be the focus at the first stage. I think it is already necessary to set up a centralized warehouse for the Belarusian enterprises (and we will provide assistance in this), where they could permanently have their products,” the head of the region said. “The future lies in building joint ventures for agricultural products, including those representative offices and warehouses that could be on the territory of Primorye Territory for the sale of products.”
Belarus's trade and economic cooperation with Russia's Primorye Territory has been rapidly developing in recent years. The trade went up from $17.3 million in 2020 to $32.7 million in 2021. In January-September 2022, it soared by another 80% year-on-year to about $40 million. Exports more than doubled and reached $32.5 million. Belarus' main exports to Primorye Territory include trucks, defense and security products, equipment and devices for filtering liquids or gases, cheese and cottage cheese, butter and cream, construction plastic. The bulk of imports from Primorye Territory are parts and accessories for automobiles and tractors, medicines, flour made from meat by-products and fish, boron oxides, and electric batteries.
The Russian region has established cooperation with many industrial enterprises of Belarus. In January-September 2022 Minsk Electrotechnical Plant named after V.I. Kozlov exported power transformers worth $1.6 million to the Russian region (up 7.4 times year-on-year). In the summer, this Belarusian company signed a memorandum with the Ussuriysk auto repair plant to organize assembly production of power transformers in Primorye Territory.
