Head of Russia's Udmurt Republic opines on progress in Belarus-Russia import-substitution

Aleksandr Brechalov noted that his meeting with Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko as well as the Udmurt business mission to Belarus, which took place a little more than six months ago, were focused on integration matters. “And we already see the results: the import of goods and services from Belarus to Udmurtia has grown, our export indicators remain quite good. It is gratifying to think that our quasi-partners that demonstratively withdrew from Belarus and Russia are now regretting their decision big time, because Belarusian and Russian enterprises are successfully replacing them. For example, the electric motors for low-floor trams made by Sarapul Electric Generator Plant are now used in equipment manufactured in Russia and Belarus. Such examples are many,” Aleksandr Brechalov said.

In his opinion, the parties have a lot of mutually beneficial avenues of cooperation. “I can name many import-substituting projects in agriculture, engineering, machine tool industry that we can implement together. Thus, Belarus has been and remains our strategic partner. It is consistently one of the top three trading partners for Udmurtia. We believe that our trade this year will definitely be better than in 2022,” Aleksandr Brechalov stressed.

He also noted that although economy is always the cornerstone of cooperation, it is equally important to maintain cultural contacts. “During my visit to Minsk we agreed that it is necessary to step up exchange programs for schoolchildren and the youth. The winners of Udmurtia's song contest among children were awarded the trip to Brest, which is the sister city of Izhevsk. It is extremely important to expand cooperation in this area,” Aleksandr Brechalov concluded.