Belarus invited to take part in construction projects in Russia's Arkhangelsk Oblast

“We would like to set up Belarusian quarters in some cities of the region: Arkhangelsk, Severodvinsk, and Kotlas where large construction projects to relocate people from dilapidated houses are underway,” Igor Orlov said. “We would like the Republic of Belarus and your companies to assist in implementation of large-scale national projects launched under the instruction of the Russian president,” he added.

Igor Orlov views construction and mechanical engineering as priority areas of cooperation. The countries already have ongoing and planned projects in these fields.

According to Igor Orlov, it is hard to imagine such sectors as agriculture, public transport, and forestry without Belarusian machinery. “Our region is a large customer of the Belarusian automobile engineering company BelAZ. More than 50 BelAZ vehicles work in diamond mines in Arkhangelsk Oblast,” he said. The Russian delegation showed particular interest in Belarusian technologies for peat extraction. “We would like to successfully cooperate with Belarus in the development of the Arctic zone of Russia,” the governor said.

The delegation of Arkhangelsk Oblast consists of more than 50 people, including businessmen and representatives of local authorities. This shows its interest in cooperation with Belarus. During their stay in Belarus, the delegation have held talks with the government, the Minsk Oblast Executive Committee, the National Academy of Sciences, the timber, woodworking, pulp and paper industry concern Bellesbumprom, visited the companies Agrokombinat Zhdanovichi and Keramin to discuss ways to enhance cooperation.

“Cooperation in these sectors contributes to the high level of relations between Russia and Belarus, and between our regions. I am sure that this cooperation will be advanced in future,” Igor Orlov added.