MINSK, 23 September (BelTA) - Trade between Belarus and Russia’s Buryatia has grown six times over the past five years, the head of Buryatia Aleksei Tsydenov told the media ahead of a meeting of the working group on cooperation between Belarus and Buryatia of Russia,
BelTA has learned.
“If we take absolute figures, our trade is small, but it has grown six times over the past five years. We see the dynamics, interest in cooperation. We have long been cooperating at the interregional level. We have agreements with Brest Oblast and Gomel Oblast on social and economic cooperation. The State Committee for Science and Technology provides a general coordination of interaction with us,” Aleksei Tsydenov said.
According to him, areas of cooperation are many. "We use Belarusian tractors, BelAZ trucks. There is an MTZ dealership in Buryatia. It sells tractors and provides maintenance. Buryatia mines coal in large volumes and makes a wide use of BelAZ mining dump trucks. Our stores sell Belarusian cheeses and butter. Although we seem to be far away, but your dairy products reach us, are popular and in demand. Our light industry enterprises cooperate. Our aircraft plant interacts with aircraft repair enterprises in Belarus, including in terms of supply of components. There are quite a lot of points of contact, and not only in the manufacturing sector but also in healthcare. Belarus has good experience, we know what to see, what to learn, and we have our own interesting developments. Oriental medicine is very well-developed in Buryatia," the head of Buryatia said.
He also hailed the great potential for the development of tourism. "Buryatia is home to Lake Baikal. Today we have a large investment program. We are building many hotels of different classes. We invite Belarusians to come and see Lake Baikal. This is a world gem. it is always beautiful, in winter or summer. People get very strong impressions. We will also work to attract tourists from Buryatia to Belarus. I myself want my family to visit here, I like it here," Aleksei Tsydenov noted.