Belarus-St. Petersburg projects in nano, biotechnology are promising, Belarus PM says

The most promising in Belarus-Saint Petersburg cooperation can be projects in nano and biotechnology as well as projects in manufacturing medical products which the two countries still have to import in big volumes, Belarusian Premier Mikhail Myasnikovich told media in Saint Petersburg on 2 October, BelTA has learnt.

According to the Premier, Belarus and Saint Petersburg have still a huge untapped potential in bilateral cooperation.

“On the whole, cooperation forms can be different. I believe there will be new programs in the Union State,” the Belarusian head of government said. The countries, however, are not going to focus on them only, they plan to continue bilateral cooperation. “We have agreed to develop new projects and shift into a phase of innovative investment cooperation to make these projects more promising,” Mikhail Myasnikovich said, adding that the existing projects are already of high importance for the economy of both Saint Petersburg and Belarus.

In turn, Saint Petersburg Governor Georgy Poltavchenko noted that cooperation between Belarus and the Russian region is vibrant in every area. “Today we are approaching more qualitative level of cooperation, i.e. manufacturing of brand new products with higher added value,” Georgy Poltavchenko believes. “We have not only theoretical development for this, we already have established prototypes, companies (both in Belarus and Saint Petersburg) which can work jointly to produce goods for our countries as well as the global market,” he added.

As was informed earlier, Mikhail Myasnikovich paid a working visit to Saint Petersburg on 1-2 October. During the visit he attended the 17th international forum “Russian Manufacturer”, the 6th Saint Petersburg International Innovation Forum and the opening of the Belarusian trade fair. He also took part in the meeting of the Belarus-Saint Petersburg Business Cooperation Council. The participants of the meeting took stock of the progress made in the implementation of the intergovernmental program on trade, economic, sci-tech and humanitarian cooperation for 2012-2016. they also discussed joint projects in manufacturing cooperation, supplies of Belarusian passenger and municipal vehicles and elevators to Saint Petersburg, cooperation in the food industry, construction and science.

A number of documents were signed at the meeting. Among them was the protocol of the sixth meeting of Saint Petersburg-Belarus Business Cooperation Council, the program of cooperation between the Government of Saint Petersburg and the Minsk City Hall for 2013-2017, the protocol following the talks on cooperation between Minsk Oblast Governor Boris Batura and Saint Petersburg Governor Georgy Poltavchenko.