Belarus-Russia trade at $14bn in Q1

"We have been long working on the integration with the Russian Federation. The goal of the 28 Union State programs is to bring the economies of our countries closer together, to build strong economies of the two independent states. The trade with the Russian Federation is growing from year to year. In 2021, it totaled about $40 billion, up by 35% over 2020. In Q1 of this year it came at $14 billion. This says a lot. It shows that cooperation with the Russian Federation has been a priority for us for a long time," said Tatiana Runets.

Import substitution is the number one topic today, she noted. The panel discussion "Effective import substitution in the Union State: projects, incentives, coordination" is a logical continuation of the dialogue ongoing at the level of heads of state, ministries, departments, and regions. "The main result of the forum is the conclusion of commercial contracts. This year, the amount of commercial contracts is estimated at about RUB65 billion. If we talk about the geography of contracts, it is diverse. Our major parters of Moscow Oblast, St. Petersburg, Smolensk have now been followed by the Far Eastern regions. About 70% of the contracts are engineering products, tractor engineering, elevators. Food industry accounts for about 20%. Meat packing plants and dairies take center stage here. As the Russians say, Belarusian products are always of high quality. The portfolio of contracts has also products of light industry, woodworking, petrochemical industry," said Tatiana Runets.

An important topic that is always on the agenda pf the Forum of Regions is the budget of the Union State. "Since 2000, we have executed more than 70 Union State programs with the Russian Federation: in medicine, space industry. This is very important. The we promote the scientific potential of our countries that feature the Kurchatov Institute, Belarusian research institutes, the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Sciences of Belarus. The Union State programs are aimed at promoting scientific developments into manufacturing," Tatiana Runets concluded.