August 5, Shklov District /Olga Bogacheva - BELTA/. Attention to mechanical engineering in Belarus will be strengthened. This was stated today, in response to a question from a BELTA correspondent, by President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko during an informal meeting with journalists from regional media of Mogilev and Vitebsk regions in the agro-town of Alexandria. "Mechanical engineering is the toughest industry in the world. There is fierce competition here. But we are lucky here too: there is demand for our equipment," the President said. He stressed that today Belarus offers various machine complexes for crop cultivation for export. "Demand has emerged, so we are now intensively developing this equipment. The prospects here are great, and our own market requires renewal," Alexander Lukashenko stated, adding that the development of this area is not driven by concern for the country's image, but is directly linked to demand for products. "The same 'Gomselmash' today sells half of its equipment outside Belarus. And this is good: to avoid currency crises, half should be sold abroad, and half should be kept domestically," the President concluded. On the field of OJSC "Alexandriyskoye", the head of state was introduced to the latest development of PO "Gomselmash" - an experimental model of the new GS-16 "Polesie" grain harvester. According to Andrey Dyuzhev, General Designer of PO "Gomselmash", the machine's throughput of grain mass is 16 kg/s, and its main feature is the large header, which is 9 m wide. This was achieved through an original design solution. Alexander Lukashenko highly praised the presented development. "It's a good machine," the President summarized, noting the need to establish its serial production next year.-0-

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