Business news

MINSK, 30 November (BelTA) – Russia’s Astrakhans Oblast can become a springboard for promoting goods from Belarus to the countries of the Caspian region, Vice Governor - Chairman of the Astrakhan Oblast Government Konstantin Markelov said following the meeting of the working group on cooperation of Belarus and Russia's Astrakhan Oblast, BelTA has learned.

“Our proposal is to use Astrakhan Oblast as a springboard for promoting Belarus-made goods to the countries of the Caspian Sea. We have good transport infrastructure. Astrakhan is located at the intersection of two transmodal corridor: North-South and East-West,” said Konstantin Markelov.

He also noted that Astrakhan invited Belarusian colleagues to implement a joint project to establish a pectin production. "In Astrakhan there are all conditions for this. We offered our colleagues from Belarus to consider this joint project," said Konstantin Markelov.

The working group discussed a wide range of possibilities for expanding cooperation, bearing in mind the new program of industrialization of Astrakhan Oblast. "It is connected with the development of the oil and gas sector, shipbuilding, transport, processing industry. There are so many areas for cooperation. Belarus is actively developing. There are new approaches and technologies that are of interest to us,” Konstantin Markelov noted.

Konstantin Markelov said that Astrakhan is interested in developing relations with Belarus in the field of manufacturing industry. The region has a special economic zone, and therefore the promising areas of cooperation are machine tools, farm machines and automotive technology, and their maintenance. "We talked a lot about the development of the food industry. This is due to import substitution,” he explained.

In addition, the meeting discussed projects in the humanitarian, social and cultural areas. "We have a lot in common," Konstantin Markelov said.