Opinions & Interviews

VERGIATE, 10 September (BelTA) - Belarus and Italy are approaching a new level of cooperation, Belarus’ Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov said summing up the two-day visit of the Belarusian government delegation to Italy, BelTA has learned.

"We had a very good meeting with the government of Italy. We agreed that we will set up a Belarusian-Italian commission for trade and economic cooperation, a business cooperation council and that the President of the Lombardy region and a business delegation will visit Belarus in November,” said Andrei Kobyakov. It is expected that the authorities of Minsk and Turin will compile their own bilateral program of trade, economic and cultural cooperation.

During the visit the meaningful talks were held at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. "I think that our partners already have a different opinion about Belarus. I mean the see our country as not only a good technological platform for projects but also as a good, serious market in the Eurasian Economic Union. We agreed to establish a joint working group with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and to host Italian partners in Belarus. During this visit we will have a more detailed discussion the joint production of automotive vehicles. This applies both to passenger cars and to commercial vehicles weighing up to 5 tonnes. This is very important for us because there is no large-scale production of these vehicles in Belarus yet,” said the Belarusian head of government. During the visit an agreement was reached on cooperation with Finmeccanica, the largest manufacturer of AgustaWestland helicopters.

Andrei Kobyakov said that in order to intensify the Belarusian-Italian cooperation support will be provided to business.

"I think that during this visit we laid a good groundwork. Now we need to implement all he arrangements. There is will for that, including the political one. We see it by the mood of the Italian Government. In addition, the Italian business is also very interested in the development of relations with us,” Andrei Kobyakov summed up.

The Belarusian government delegation was in Italy on a visit on 9-10 September. On the first day of the visit, Andrei Kobyakov attended the Belarus National Day events at Expo 2015 and took part in the panel discussion "Belarus: European partner - Eurasian market" at the Milan Stock Exchange. He held talks with an Italian government delegation and the President of the Lombardy Region. On 10 September the Belarusian delegation visited Piedmont. Andrei Kobyakov met with the Piedmont authorities and the Mayor of Turin, visited the production sites of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Finmeccanica.