Does Miasnikovich support acquisition of Belarusian military-industrial complex by Russia?

The Belarusian prime minister thinks Belarusian-Russian joint companies should be created in the military-industrial complex.

He said it during the opening ceremony of the 7th international defense technology expo MILEX 2014, charter97.org learnt from the press service of the government.

“Of course we need to open joint companies instead of working through industrial cooperation. We plan to solve the issues that still remain unsolved in officials' offices,” Mikhail Miasnikovich said. He added such joint companies would not require permissions on the highest level or on the level of coordinative bodies. According to the Belarusian PM, the future lies with joint projects.

Positive trends can be noticed in the area. “We are discussing a couple of projects, beginning from intellectual systems, radars and opto-mechanical instruments to, for example, helicopters, armoured vehicles and so on. We have a lot of things to do,” the PM said.

Answering a question about joint projects in the area of communication devices, Mikhail Miasnikovich stressed the joint Belarusian-Russian products, as well as Russian and Belarusian ones, could be more competitive in the international market. He thinks they are not able to compete now. “It is really a problem both for scientists and engineers. We need serious progress in this direction,” Mikhail Miasnikovich said. He praised certain moves in the direction, but noted other manufacturers were developing as well.

“We see today that not all our companies can work in cooperation to make products for the Russian military-industrial complex. However, we see a certain progress,” the PM noted. He recalled that the topic had been discussed with Russian deputy PM Dmitry Rogozin some days ago. “We have given instructions to take measures and include Belarusian products in the list of products that can be sold for the needs of the military-industrial complex of Russia,” the Belarusian prime minister added.