Business news

MINSK, 2 February (BelTA) – A concept of the new program of the Union State of Belarus and Russia on geological exploration and nature management has been developed, BelTA learned from Andrei Kovkhuto, Belarusian Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Minister, after the plenary session of the 1^st Eurasian Mining and Geological Forum, on 2 February.

The official said that the concept of the new Union State program on geological exploration and nature management has already been developed and approved by the relevant ministries of Belarus and Russia. Financial matters are now being addressed as well as the list of concrete projects that will become part of it. “It is one of the matters we are discussing during the forum,” noted the Belarusian Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Minister.

In his words, negotiations are supposed to take place within the framework of the forum to discuss the harmonization of the geological assets and the signing of bilateral agreements between organizations of Belarus (in particular, the R&D Center for Geology), Kazakhstan, and Russia.

The Eurasian Mining and Geological Forum is schedule to take place in Minsk on 2-4 February with assistance of the Belarusian Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Ministry, the state enterprise R&D Center for Geology, the Belarusian State Technological University, and the international consulting company IMC Montan.

The key items on the agenda include the formation of a common market of raw materials inside the Eurasian Economic Union, the mining policy of the Union State of Belarus and Russia, risks and capabilities of mining industry enterprises in view of the development of integration processes in Eurasia, the formation of transboundary mining clusters, and the development of public private partnership in the mining industry. The Eurasian Mining and Geological Forum is supposed to offer a permanent venue for discussing mining industry problems in view of the development of interstate cooperation and supranational integration associations in Eurasia.