OREANDA-NEWS. September 18, 2008. In 2008, the trade between the Republic of Belarus and the Moscow region of the Russian Federation will reach USD 3 billion, Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Andrei Kobyakov told reporters after the joint session of the working group on cooperation of Belarus and the Moscow region on September 18. The session was held in Gomel.

In fact, in 2007, Belarus had the same trade volume with Ukraine and, this year, it has the same trade volume with Poland. “The Moscow region has become one of the key partners of Belarus in foreign trade,” the Vice Premier highlighted.

At the same time, however, the figures are not the main goal, it is high time to stimulate the mutual interpenetration of the economies, to set up joint ventures in Belarus and Moscow region, to carry out innovation projects, Andrei Kobyakov noted.

Participants of the session paid special attention to implementation of the joint projects. They considered the problems concerning the activity of the joint ventures which produce municipal and agricultural equipment in the Moscow region. During the session, its participants decided to set up a joint venture to produce road machinery for the Russian region. They also considered the issues regarding the creation of trade and logistics centres in the Ramenskoe and Odintsovo districts of the Moscow region.

The participants of the session discussed the cooperation between business circles of Belarus and the Moscow region, the cooperation in educational and cultural areas.

The participants of the session decided that the next session of the working group on cooperation between the Republic of Belarus and the Moscow region will be held in one of the towns of the Moscow region in April 2009.