Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko met with Governor of Russia's Primorye Territory Oleg Kozhemyako on 16 July, BelTA has learned.
“Vladivostok is geographically distant, but we have close ties with it. A testimony to that are our frequent meetings and agreements that we reach during them. There is no point in discussing what Belarus and Primorye Territory can or cannot do, because we already know it. I often talk with the president of Russia and tell him about our meetings, about the needs of the Far East, which is not that 'far' for us, about 'requests' of the governor of Primorye Territory. I joke that he has already taken everything out, and when there is not enough money in the budget, he uses his personal funds to work for the benefit of Russia,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
Oleg Kozhemyako remarked that Primorye Territory attaches great importance to partnership with Belarus. “Thanks to our cooperation, residents of Primorye Territory have an opportunity to buy Belarusian products, that they really like. Our trade in agricultural and mechanical engineering products is growing year by year. It was worth 1.5 billion [Russian rubles] at the outset, while now the figure is 22.5. This is mutually beneficial as our export also increased threefold, Belarus started buying more goods from us,” the governor noted.