Opinion: Belarus, Russia have intensified industrial cooperation

According to the expert, gaining sovereignty Belarus managed to preserve the real sector of the economy, as well as its scientific and educational competencies. Last year the real sector provided about 50% of the GDP growth. The industrial sector played a big role in this. As for interaction with the Russian sector, the situation has drastically changed recently.

“First of all, this is a consequence of the sanctions policy. Cooperation between industrial enterprises has become more intensive, including outside the previously signed Union State programs. If earlier Belarusian manufacturers competed more in the Russian market, now the situation is gradually changing,” the analyst emphasized.

Georgy Grits mentioned two trends that would describe the industry of both countries. The first is the localization of their own competences. “We can include critical imports here. We are talking, for example, about automotive electronics, automotive components, machine tool construction and other industries. These competences were previously missed unfortunately. In addition, we can talk about the localization of joint competences of Belarusian-Russian projects. Both Aleksandr Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin talked about it a lot,” Georgy Grits noted.

If we talk about the future, the most obvious trend in the medium and long term is intelligent systems based on information technology.

“Our educational systems have recently been training specialists for the Western market. Our real sector was provided on the leftover principle. However, the situation is changing. The Russian Federation is to adopt a concept of technological development before 15 December 2022. The Belarusian government has been in touch with the Russian one. The Russians do not mind our participation in such projects. I have high hopes that the concept will become independent not only for the Russian Federation, but for the Union State at least. Although the same problems are facing the EAEU, and if we raise the bar higher, we can name the SCO as well. In the long run it may change the landscape of the industrial market in the global format,” Georgy Grits said.