Business news

SAINT PETERSBURG, 25 November (BelTA) – Chairman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus Mikhail Myasnikovich met with Saint Petersburg Governor Georgy Poltavchenko on 25 November, the press service of the Embassy of Belarus in Russia told BelTA.

The Belarusian delegation arrived in Saint Petersburg to take part in the third international conference Eurasian Challenge.

The Saint Petersburg Governor remarked that relations with Belarus are high on the list of foreign economic and international priorities of the city. Belarus steadily occupies the first position among the CIS states in terms of volume of trade with Saint Petersburg and is one of the top ten foreign trade partners of the Russian city. Efforts to advance the bilateral ties focus on supplies of agricultural products, the development of manufacturing cooperation, and support for small and medium businesses.

Saint Petersburg Days took place in Minsk in October 2016. The ninth session of the Belarus-Saint Petersburg Business Cooperation Council took place during the Days. Results of fulfilling the program on trade, economic, scientific, technical, and humanitarian cooperation in 2012-2016 were summed up. A new program for 2017-2021 was adopted. In particular, the project to build “symmetric” housing estates in Saint Petersburg and Minsk was mentioned as a priority.

Quality Belarusian products and organic food are traditionally popular in Saint Petersburg. As many as 40 Belarusian fairs have already been held in Saint Petersburg this year. A wide choice of Belarus-made products is represented in hypermarkets and specialized Belarusian stores.

According to the Saint Petersburg Governor, new avenues of cooperation should be first of all related to the establishment of modern innovative enterprises capable of making products with a high added value. Saint Petersburg has already accumulated some experience of launching pharmaceutical enterprises that operate as part of a medical and pharmaceutical cluster. “We should set up enterprises that could saturate the markets of our countries with popular products and could advance its products to the international market,” said Georgy Poltavchenko.

Chairman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus Mikhail Myasnikovich suggested using not only investment and credit resources for implementing joint projects but also the budget of the Union State of Belarus and Russia.

The sides also reached an agreement on opening an interregional service center of the Union State of Belarus and Russia in Saint Petersburg for the sake of promoting and servicing Belarus-made machines and vehicles.