MINSK, 14 July (BelTA) - Distinguished by the depth, special spirituality and ideological spirit, the cooperation with St. Petersburg is the highest priority for Belarus, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he met with a delegation of St. Petersburg led by Governor Alexander Beglov in Minsk on 14 July, BelTA learned.
“All Belarusians appreciate our good warm relations with St. Petersburg very much,” the Belarusian leader said.
"Cooperation with Leningrad or St Petersburg is the highest priority for us," the Belarusian leader said.
“All Belarusians appreciate our good warm relations with St. Petersburg very much,” the Belarusian leader said.
Speaking about the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War this year, Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that Belarus and Leningrad were affected the worst in the war. In the post-war period, the people of Leningrad provided significant support to the Belarusians and the city of Minsk. “It was Leningrad who came to our aid first. Leningrad contributed to the development of science in the Academy of Sciences [of Belarus] and the post-war recovery of the destroyed country. Therefore, our relations are based on this brotherhood and run deep,” the president said.
"Cooperation with Leningrad or St Petersburg is the highest priority for us," the Belarusian leader said.
He noted that this is thanks not only to a good level of development of trade and economic cooperation. The president hopes that the parties will hit the mark of $2.5 billion in trade soon. “We can do that. The point is not about that. The point is about the spirituality, the ideological spirit that are at the heart of our relations,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
Speaking about the avenues of cooperation, the president highlighted the engineering industry, which the country has preserved since Soviet times and developed further in the sovereign period of history. For example, St. Petersburg gets its passenger vehicles from Belarus. “We will do our best not to give reasons even to those [the so-called opposition media] who are very interested in hyping on the topic of our equipment malfunctions.”
In this regard, Aleksandr Lukashenko proposed, if necessary, to establish high-quality maintenance of Belarusian equipment in St. Petersburg in order to bear full responsibility for this.
St. Petersburg shows interest in Belarusian utility vehicles. A special model of street cleaner has been manufactured for the needs of the Russian northern capital. It will soon arrive in St Petersburg for trial runs.
Aleksandr Lukashenko proposed to continue cooperation in terms of elevator equipment supply.
The Belarusian side is also eager to set up joint ventures in St. Petersburg in all areas of interest: “What we need is guarantees. If there is the guarantees of the governor, if there is a project and a site, we will be happy to work under your guarantees. This is more important to us than any financial guarantees.”
The president is confident that such joint ventures will have a significant degree of localization as Belarusian products are partially made using Russian spare parts. “Even if we organize an assembly production in your country, it will be 50% Russian at the initial stage. It will be localized from the get-go,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
St. Petersburg also liked the firefighting equipment produced in Belarus and is ready to work with the company. “We will support these projects in every possible way,” the Belarusian leader assured.
Belarus’ traditional export item to St. Petersburg is food. “We are keen to continue cooperation, to create storage facilities and shops to reduce the cost of products. These are the products mainly by state-owned companies, processing companies. We are not going to make a profit by hiking prices. We can prove to you that our products will always be cheaper than any goods that you have on the shelves in St. Petersburg. I'm not even talking about quality. You know our respect for quality,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
The official visit of the St. Petersburg delegation to Belarus is timed to celebrate the 25th anniversary of twinning relations between St. Petersburg and Minsk. In 2024, trade reached $2.46 billion (up by 10.5% over 2023), exports amounted to $1.66 billion (up by 1.2%), imports came at $793.2 million (up by 9.1%). In January-May of this year, trade maintained growth momentum.
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