Lukashenko: Economic cooperation with St. Petersburg is recovering at a good pace

Belarus's economic cooperation with Saint Petersburg is recovering at a good pace. This was stated by the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, today at a meeting with the Governor of Saint Petersburg, Alexander Beglov, as reported by a BELTA correspondent.

As the head of state noted, the results for 2021 show that Belarus's economic cooperation with Saint Petersburg is recovering at a good pace. Thus, for the first 11 months of last year, the trade turnover volume of 2020 was already surpassed. "And most likely, we will reach the pre-pandemic level of $1.7 billion," the President said.

During the meeting, the implementation of projects for the construction of residential "symmetric" quarters was mentioned: the Saint Petersburg quarter in Minsk (symbolically named "Petrovskie Verfi") and the Belarusian quarter in Saint Petersburg. Alexander Lukashenko believes that these projects, in addition to their direct purpose, have a very significant image effect, therefore their construction should be completed within the next few years (the handover of the first facilities of the Saint Petersburg quarter in Minsk is planned for July 2022).

The President specifically noted the positive transformations that have taken place in Saint Petersburg recently and shared his personal impressions on this matter. "I saw it with my own eyes when I was in Piter," he noted. "I was flying by helicopter, everything is visible. I didn't expect you to tidy up the city so seriously. The city has simply changed before my eyes."

"It's a pleasure to look at today's Piter. I think it will be even better, and we are ready to participate in this," he added. In particular, the meeting discussed the possibility of supplying domestic passenger transport, especially since the government of Saint Petersburg is carrying out a large-scale reform in this area, focusing on environmental friendliness. "Absolutely correct. It cannot be otherwise in the north of Russia," the head of state assessed.

Belarus, according to him, plans to supply about 900 medium and large capacity buses running on liquefied gas to Saint Petersburg by July 1, 2022. "We will fulfill our obligations. You don't even doubt it. We highly value and cherish our relationship, especially in the sphere of supplies and trade, because we have an export-oriented economy," the Belarusian leader assured.

Furthermore, the President assured that Belarus is ready to assist in the implementation of the next stage of the reform – the expansion of the use of electric transport. Especially since there are good domestic examples of such transport. It is planned that within 2 years, almost 100 trolleybuses with an increased autonomous range from the enterprise "Belkommunmash" will be supplied to Saint Petersburg.

There is also a proposal for the supply of trams and metro cars, which are produced in Belarus by the Swiss company "Stadler". The President also noted opportunities for expanding cooperation in the supply of utility vehicles, food products, and the manufacturing of elevators.

Belarus's trade and economic relations with Saint Petersburg in 2021 were characterized by positive dynamics. Mutual trade turnover for the period from January to November last year amounted to about $1.6 billion. This is more than for the entire 2020, when the volume of mutual trade was slightly over $1.5 billion. In 11 months of 2021, Belarus exported goods worth $895 million to Saint Petersburg, mainly whole milk products, cheeses, curd, and butter, bars of unalloyed steel, specific goods, beef, as well as poultry meat and offal, and plastic containers. From the Russian city, primarily passenger cars, electric motors and generators, beer, structures of ferrous metals, refrigerators, freezers, and refrigerating equipment were supplied.

Direct entities of the supply chain of a number of Belarusian manufacturers operate in Saint Petersburg. In 2019, the assembly production of elevators "Mogilevliftmash" was launched at the site of LLC "MLM Nevsky Lift".

Source: belta.by