OREANDA-NEWS. April 25, 2008. Over the two years Belarus and the Sverdlovsk oblast of the Russian Federation can boost the trade to \\$1 billion, Belarusian Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky noted after his meeting with Governor of the Sverdlovsk oblast Eduard Rossel, reported the Official website www.government.by.

On April 24, Sergei Sidorsky and Eduard Rossel signed a plan of the measures to develop the cooperation between the governments of Belarus and the Sverdlovsk oblast for 2008-2009. The document includes 36 articles.

According to Eduard Rossel, the plan opens the second stage of the relations of the Sverdlovsk oblast and Belarus. “We set a task to boost the trade more than two times,” he said. In 2007, the trade between Belarus and the Sverdlovsk oblast upped by 42%.

The trade will be boosted owing to setting up the new joint ventures to produce medicines, medical equipment, furniture and other consumer goods. Concrete agreements and contracts between economic entities of Belarus and the Sverdlovsk oblast will contribute to it, Sergei Sidorsky added.

A BelAZ assembly facility will be set up in the Sverdlovsk region, governor of the Sverdlovsk region of Russia Eduard Rossel said after the talks with Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky.

According to Eduard Rossel, Belarus and Sverdlovsk region have “colossal potential”. “We are ready to develop it,” he added.

The sides agreed to implement a big project, namely, to set up a transport and logistics centre in Minsk. All cargoes going from the EU countries in the eastern direction will be accumulated in the Minsk transport and logistics centre.

Eduard Rossel reminded that the EU decided to prolong the second transport corridor Berlin-Warsaw-Nizhni Novgorod to Yekaterinburg. Minsk is supposed to play an import role in the transportation of goods from Europe to the Ural region.