Ryazan Region Governor on how sanctions intensified import substitution within Union State
The West’s sanctions pressure on the Union State has significantly intensified the policy of import substitution – as noted by the Ryazan Region Governor, Pavel Malkov, commenting on the results of his meeting with President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko today
Answering a question about strengthening co-operation in the face of sanctions pressure on the Union State, Mr. Malkov said that the Belarusian leader guides to view sanctions as a time of opportunity. “Sanctions are actually a good thing, because they have greatly advanced us in a number of areas. It is even hardly possible to find a sphere where we have not become more active. A large number of investment projects in Ryazan and the Ryazan Region were born precisely because of sanctions and import substitution policy. We are liaising [with Belarus] in all areas, and these include agriculture and every sphere of industry,” he noted.
Mr. Malkov stressed that Belarus and the Russian region have a plan for developing co-operation in each specific area, which is represented in one way or another in the Ryazan Region. “The Ryazan Region has a diversified economy. Starting from building materials and machine tools, and ending with pharmaceuticals, medical products, and ferrous metal products, we see a huge potential for co-operation. Of course, Belarus has a wider range [of directions] for interaction. We look at what Belarus is primarily interested in for joint projects and offer our competencies,” he explained.
