Russia's Arkhangelsk Oblast hopes to develop cooperate with Minsk Oblast in housing construction, education and agriculture, Governor of the Russian region Igor Orlov said as he met with Minsk Oblast Governor Aleksandr Turchin on 18 February, BelTA has learned.

“We have a number of public housing construction programs for Arkhangelsk Oblast. These are hundreds of thousands of square meters of housing. We would like Belarusian partners to share their construction practices with a number of Russian regions. We also hope to expand cooperation in the agro-industrial sector. Agricultural products are of high importance for the north. Cooperation also looks promising in education as the establishment of contacts between young people, preservation of their creativity and the organization of joint activities are a key to our future success,” Igor Orlov said.

He also suggested setting up a trading house in Arkhangelsk Oblast to organize supplies of meat products from Belarus. The move will help the partners get rid of mediators and improve cooperation.

Aleksandr Turchin proposed to develop a roadmap of cooperation and sign it at the Forum of Regions of Belarus and Russia in the autumn. The exchange of experience in IT, medicine and scientific technologies are promising areas for the development of regional interaction, he said.

Minsk Oblast and Arkhangelsk Oblast of Russia maintain regional cooperation. In 2019, the Minsk Oblast-Arkhangelsk Oblast trade accounted for about a third of the trade between Belarus and this Russian region (31%, or $14.2 million). Major export items to Arkhangelsk Oblast were engineering goods and food products (poultry, sugar). Imports were mainly wood pulp, paper, cardboard, machines and devices for electric, laser and other types of brazing, electric batteries.

Photo courtesy of the Minskaya Pravda newspaper