OREANDA-NEWS. May 30, 2008. Belarus and Moscow plan to implement more than 15 investment projects to the tune of RUB 100 billion, Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Andrei Kobyakov said at a session of the Business Cooperation Council of Belarus and Moscow. The volume of investment portfolio is comparable to last year’s trade between Belarus and the Russian capital which was \\$4,4 billion. This year the sides plan to reach \\$5 billion, reported the Official website www.government.by. 

The cooperation programme which was launched in 2006 is running out in 2008. Therefore the session on May 28 approved the preliminary mutual deliveries projections in 2009-20013. At the same time Andrei Kobyakov and deputy mayor of Moscow Valery Vinogradov charged the ministries and agencies to finalize these parameters revising them upward. According to estimates, the trade between Belarus and Moscow by 2013 may reach RUB 180 billion. The countries plan to expand the range of goods, increase the share of high-tech goods and science-intensive products.

A special session of the Belarus-Moscow Business Cooperation Council is supposed to be dedicated to developing collaboration in the field of innovations, Moscow Vice Mayor Valery Vinogradov told a session of the Belarus-Moscow Business Cooperation Council.

“We have huge prospects in this area,” he remarked. “It is a very important issue we have not virtually approached before. A presentation of Moscow’s innovation system may be held at the special session. It may be interesting for Belarus”.

According to Valery Vinogradov, it is the regional branch of the trade and economic cooperation that is most rapidly developing. Year after year the effectiveness of Moscow’s cooperation with Belarusian oblasts and regions improves. The interest of Moscow business circles in signing new contracts grows on. This is why the Vice Mayor suggested holding a conference to share the best practices used in cooperation between prefectures and oblasts.

The Moscow delegation was interested in Belarus’ sport and tourism potential. Belarus proposals should be more thoroughly considered and promising cooperation projects should be worked out, said Valery Vinogradov. It is possible to use Belarus’ constantly growing sport base for training young Moscow sportsmen. The tourism infrastructure can be used for recreation of Moscow children and teenagers. It seems the legal base in this area will have to be advanced to a quality new level soon, he said.