During his meeting with Governor Pavel Konkov, Alexander Lukashenko called the visit of the Ivanovo Region delegation ‘timely’. He regrets that, last year, trade turnover between Belarus and the Ivanovo Region fell by almost 20 percent. However, we have managed to do well early this year. “We’ve restored our lost positions by expanding bilateral turnover,” underlines the President. “This is a good trend which needs to be preserved.”
The Head of State explained that he pays close attention to expanding mutual trade turnover, since trade-economic co-operation is a foundation for any relations. “There are no problems in other fields. We are united; therefore, there are no disagreements between us. Our successes are your successes, your successes are our successes,” he adds.
Mr. Lukashenko emphasises that in the current difficult global economic situation every country needs both to expand its presence on traditional sales markets and to do its best to diversify sales markets. In this context, the Head of State spoke about the results of his participation in the summit of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation in Istanbul, during which he had a number of bilateral talks with foreign leaders. “My goal was absolutely clear. The meetings of this level give an opportunity to talk to a number of foreign leaders and discuss the roadmaps of promising co-operation while analysing the progress in the implementation of bilateral agreements, e.g., with Pakistan,” explains the Belarusian leader.
As far as activation of trade-economic contacts with the Ivanovo Region is concerned, Belarus is interested in establishing industrial co-operation, including in such traditional collaboration avenues as the textile industry and flax growing. The President expressed confidence that the economies of Belarus and the Ivanovo Region are very much similar, and can complement each other.
Mr. Lukashenko believes it’s necessary to maintain close contracts with partners from the Ivanovo Region to advance liaisons in such fields as agriculture, construction, and industry. “We have an open economy. More than a half of the products made in Belarus are exported. We’re ready to expand the product range and are looking for new sales markets. We’re going to build up co-operation with the Ivanovo Region and hope that our co-operation will help us make more goods with high added value,” he stresses.
In his turn, Pavel Konkov emphasises the importance of the fact that Alexander Lukashenko constantly draws much attention to the development of contacts with the Russian regions. He agreed that the expansion of the trade-economic co-operation is mutually beneficial. The Governor stresses that it’s always easy to find common language with heads of Belarusian enterprises.
The Ivanovo Region and Belarusian enterprises have maintained contacts for a long time. Pavel Konkov cited Ivanovo-made crane trucks running on MAZ chassis as an example, and added that this equipment is widely used by Russian builders. Moreover, the Governor of the Ivanovo Region suggested resuming such industrial co-operation which is very efficient.
By Vladimir Khromov
