MINSK, 14 November (BelTA) - Trade between Belarus and Russia's Chelyabinsk Oblast surged by more than 20% in January-September 2022, Belarusian Minister of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade Aleksei Bogdanov said at the 14th meeting of the working group on cooperation with Chelyabinsk Oblast of Russia, BelTA has learned.
"Trade between Belarus and Russia's Chelyabinsk Oblast rose by 21% in January-September 2022 and exceeded $380 million. This figure is growing from year to year," Aleksei Bogdanov noted.
According to him, Belarusian exports show good dynamics this year, up by 40% reaching almost $100 million. We hope that we will continue our work in the same vein in the future," the head of the antimonopoly ministry emphasized.
There are a lot of projects on the agenda. They relate to industry, agriculture, supply of equipment and machinery. "Amid the sanctions, we need to double down on our work and increase mutual supplies and integration, not only in industry, processing but also in science, culture. We need to strengthen friendly relations between our countries," the minister emphasized. “Today we plan to discuss a number of issues and sign an agreement to supply 90 Mogilevliftmash elevators to Chelyabinsk Oblast. We will also sign an action plan to step up cooperation in science, technology, trade, economy and culture between the governments of Belarus and Chelyabinsk Oblast until 2025."
Deputy Governor of Chelyabinsk Oblast Ivan Kutsevlyak noted that Belarus is one of the most important trading partners for Chelyabinsk Oblast. "Mutual trade is growing. We are interested to promote our exports - metallurgy, agriculture, etc. In turn, Belarus supplies us with engineering products - MAZ, BelAZ, and other goods. We are also interested in developing cooperation which will allow us to replace a number of products," he added.
"The business part of our delegation includes representatives of those enterprises that have a practical interest in mutual cooperation. First of all, we are talking about our flagships: Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Plant and Ural Automobile Plant," Vice Governor Yegor Kovalchuk said. “All members of our delegation have a variety of interests. On the one hand, we want to buy more products from Belarus, and on the other hand, to offer our solutions, finished products, components to the market of your country. I am sure that we have very good prospects for further cooperation."
