By Olga Kruchenkova
On the government side, the work on the project is being carried out by the State Committee for Science and Technology of Belarus.
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Israel, Yair Shamir, got acquainted with the proposals of Belarus. The working meeting between the leadership of the Israeli delegation and representatives of the scientific community was held in the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee before a tour of the Orsha and Tolochin districts.
“Based on the experience that Israel has in co-operation with Belarus and other countries, I believe that this project could be very successful”, said Mr. Yair Shamir after the presentation.
An environmentally friendly area of 58,000 hectares, plus arable land of 43,000 hectares, was selected for the creation of the Agro-Industrial Park. There are 12 agricultural plants situated here. The list of potential investors consists of fourteen companies from Israel, Russia, Germany, the USA.
According to Igor Voitov, the Chairman of the State Committee for Science and Technology, the project has several directions — from product certification to the development of new nano-and biotechnology and pharmaceuticals.
“One of the first projects that we plan to implement in the Belarusian-Israeli company is the creation of an independent, international certification centre for agricultural and industrial production, the amount of which increases from year to year in order to be able to meet demand in the EU and other markets,” said the Chairman of the SCST. “We are also interested in biotechnology applied in animal and fish farming. The Israeli side has offered to consider issues related to the establishment of bee farms. They have a huge bio-industry, and Belarus could become a supplier of raw plant material, including medicinal herbs and forest products.”
