Belarus for cooperation with more developed Russian regions :: Charter'97 :: News

Belarus cooperating with Russia will mainly rely on the most developed Russian regions, said Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

“We do not refuse to cooperate with any Russian region, city or even village. But we intend to define the broadest and most promising regions on which we will rely in the development of bilateral ties, proceeding from economic interests,” Lukashenko said on Wednesday at the meeting with Nikolai Maksyuta, the chief of the Volgograd regional administration.

The Belarusian president said, “This is a belt of sorts, including the Stavropol territory, the Kuban area, Volgograd and Rostov. Belarusian machine building and the economy as a whole are linked with these Russian regions.”

The president remarked that commercial and economic relations with the Volgograd region “in general develop favourably, but we may reach a higher level.” “90-million dollar trade turnover is not a bad result, but, in view of strategic cooperation with Russia, we must develop bilateral contacts more intensively," Lukashenko said.

Maksyuta pointed to huge potential of the Volgograd region, which Belarus can draw on. The region can, specifically, supply Belarus with metallurgy products Belarus currently imports from Ukraine. Lukashenko said in this connection he aims to have one channel for steel supplies to Belarus.

“If your standards are normal, you can win a tender,” he said. “Quality and price are essential to us.” “We find it advantageous to work with one enterprise. We purchase thousands of tones of steel. These are huge amounts, and we wish everything should be open and aboveboard,” he said.