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Lukashenka meets with CEO of Russian state conglomerate

Belarus sees big prospects for cooperation with Rossiyskiye Tekhnologii, Alyaksandr Lukashenka said at a meeting with Sergei Chemezov, director general of the Russian state conglomerate, in Minsk on Monday.

Established in November 2007, Rossiyskiye Tekhnologii (Russian Technologies) compirises more than 400 industrial and high-tech companies, including defense industry enterprises.

“Your corporation is of a big interest [for Belarus], as it engages in roughly the same things that 85 percent of our economy is involved in. We find cooperation with Russia in these spheres very beneficial,” the presidential press office quoted Mr. Lukashenka as saying.

A number of Belarusian manufacturers and research companies maintain cooperation with enterprises run by Rossiyskiye Tekhnologii, Mr. Lukashenka said, noting good opportunities for even closer relations and adding that “an additional impetus, a signal for cooperation is needed for this.”

Mr. Lukashenka emphasized the importance of cooperation between Belarus and Rossiyskiye Tekhnologii in the light of the global financial crisis, which he described as a “time when the most serious decisions must be taken, when a bigger economic liberalization and bigger freedom are needed for solving the crisis.”

Mr. Chemezov, for his part, said that cooperation between Belarus and the Russian conglomerate varied from ties in the defense industry to vehicle manufacture and “there’s a need that makes [us] unite.”

Commenting on the meeting, Mr. Chemezov said that Rossiyskiye Tekhnologii had offered Belarus to establish joint enterprises. “MAZ [Minsk Automobile Factory], the Minsk Wheeled Tractor Factory are very interesting for us,” he was quoted as saying.

“We would like to create joint enterprises but not for competing with each other in the common market but for distributing it so that we could compete with European, American, Chinese companies,” he said.