MINSK, 29 October (BelTA) – Belarus and St. Petersburg have increased the trade turnover in industrial goods by more than three times over five years. Prime Minister of Belarus Aleksandr Turchin made the statement at a session of the Belarus-St. Petersburg Business Cooperation Council on 29 October, BelTA has learned.
Aleksandr Turchin said: “Over five years trade in industrial goods has more than tripled. The capacity of the St. Petersburg market and the constantly growing supply from the Belarusian side allow us to sell more and more Belarusian industrial goods.”
He also recounted several areas that will contribute to the development of cooperation with partners from St. Petersburg. “The construction of the Belarusian Machinery Center has been launched today. The center is supposed to become an additional driver of the growth of deliveries of various modifications of Belarusian machines and vehicles intended to satisfy needs of not only St. Petersburg but the entire North-Western Federal District. We need to exercise every effort in order to build this center as soon as possible. The timeframe is specified by the roadmap but it seems to me that we could undertake to do more and could soon open this remarkable center that will be useful both for the Belarusian side and for St. Petersburg,” the prime minister noted.
The second direction is the establishment of enterprises to assemble machines and vehicles in the territory of the city. “The matter of organizing the production of special fire-fighting vehicles from Pozhsnab Company and passenger vehicles from Belkommunmash is nearly wrapped up. The joint venture for manufacturing elevators also intends to increase the output and expand the product range,” the Belarusian head of government noted.
The third direction is the signing of long-term contracts, including offset contracts. “Various samples of Belarusian machines and vehicles (freight, passenger, special ones) are going through trials at St. Petersburg enterprises. If necessary, the manufacturers will introduce appropriate modifications. Today our manufacturer already has concrete proposals on buying buildings for the sake of starting the production of fire-fighting vehicles and on considering the conclusion of an offset contract,” Aleksandr Turchin said.
Agribusiness is another promising avenue of cooperation between Belarus and St. Petersburg. “Belarusian food is in demand and on a fundamental level it is one of the main export articles of ours. This is why extensive infrastructure has been set up in the city to sell Belarusian foods and agricultural goods. It includes both independent retail outlets and work with retail chains,” the prime minister stressed.
“Thanks to the well-developed transport and logistics component St. Petersburg acts as kind of an artery for shipping Belarusian goods to Russian regions. It is profitable for us and it is profitable for St. Petersburg. Speaking about logistics, I cannot help but mention the project of setting up a Belarusian freight terminal in the Bronka port. The project is important for both sides. Freight transshipment is on the rise. Once the terminal is ready, the transshipment volume can go up to 20 million tonnes per annum. St. Petersburg’s role in our country’s logistics will only become more prominent because of that. Healthcare and pharmaceutics represent another promising cooperation avenue. We should definitely step up efforts in this area. Considerable untapped potential is available here,” the Belarusian head of government emphasized.
On 29 October Prime Minister of Belarus Aleksandr Turchin and St. Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov signed a roadmap on implementing the first stage of the project for setting up the culture and leisure facility Belarusian Machinery Center.
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