Belarus’ ambassador visits Russia’s Kemerovo Oblast with extensive agenda

“Over the past two years our trade has hit a record-high of $600 million,” Dmitry Krutoi told reporters following the negotiations. “We have analyzed the structure of trade today and have seen that it is dominated by the so-called mono-products - these are Belarusian BelAZ dump trucks (in fact, half of BelAZ dump trucks are operated by Kuzbass enterprises in Kemerovo Oblast). As for imports, Belarus buys aluminium, coal, copper and steel products from the region. Therefore, the task has been set to diversify and expand the trade, and we are giving a priority to our first project to set up a multi-brand center in Kuzbass,” the ambassador noted.
 
The day before, Dmitry Krutoi visited the site where a Belarusian multi-brand center will open. “I saw that everything was proceeding even ahead of the schedule that we had outlined, and soon we will be able to sell not only BelAZ mining trucks, but also passenger vehicles, tractors, combine harvesters, all kinds of attachments, tires, engines in one place. This will be Belarus’ first experience of this kind in Russia. We are completing the second phase of the construction of the production building on the site. It will be used to perform all types of repairs and provide maintenance services, and there will be large warehouses for spare parts (this is the second most important element). Thus, we will be able to provide comprehensive support to the efforts to promote Belarusian machinery in Kemerovo Oblast. If this project is successful, we will scale it up in other places of Russia,” the ambassador said.
 
According to him, the second important set of issues discussed with the governor dealt with construction projects in Kemerovo Oblast in which Belarusians can participate. These are not only social infrastructure, but also industrial and agricultural facilities. “The region has an ambitious program for its agriculture; it has already achieved very good results with the annual growth rate at 10-15%,” Dmitry Krutoi remarked. “The governor was absolutely right to set the task to deepen processing in Kuzbass. To be more specific, he announced a number of very important projects in milk processing; therefore my task as an ambassador, as a deputy prime minister is to find partners and make a win-win offer on the part of Belarusian producers,” the diplomat said.
 
The ambassador named tourism and mutual trips another important component in cooperation with Kemerovo Oblast. “In this regard, a direct flight from Minsk to Kemerovo would help us a lot. We have not been able yet to find an airline that could operate such flights. But Sergei Tsivilev and I agreed to keep working on it. If necessary, Belarus’ government or the Kemerovo Oblast government will propose a scheme to support such an idea when it comes to calculating the costs,” he explained.
 
On behalf of the leadership of Belarus, the ambassador invited Sergei Tsivilev and a business delegation of Kuzbass to visit Minsk.  Large-scale Days of Kemerovo Oblast Culture might be timed to such a visit. In addition, the parties agreed to implement a number of joint initiatives in the run-up to the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Belarus from the Nazi invaders and the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War.