OREANDA-NEWS. September 25, 2009. Belarus will take part in the program of the economic industrialization of Kazakhstan, Belarusian Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky said as he met with Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Serik Akhmetov, reported the Official website government.by.

Sergei Sidorsky stated that Belarus has always been open for cooperation with Kazakhstan in all the areas including in the industry, agriculture and high technologies.

Sergei Sidorsky noted that during a recent visit of the Kazakh Prime Minister to Belarus, the sides have agreed that Belarus will take part in the program of the economic industrialization of Kazakhstan. The Belarusian side has proposed its possibilities to take part in developing the Kazakh industry and agriculture. “At present, our specialists, members of the Government are actively constructing the map of Kazakhstan’s industrialization,” Sergei Sidorsky said. The document will be finished in the near future. The Belarusian side has proposed Kazakhstan to set up joint production facilities in various branches of the economy including the agricultural machinery building, heavy engineering industry, construction of a plant to produce refrigerators. When the document will be ready, the Belarusian Prime Minister intends to pay a working visit to Kazakhstan. “The visit will be made in the near future. I believe it will be made in late October – in early November,” the Belarusian Prime Minister said.

Belarus and Kazakhstan have outlined specific areas in the military and technical cooperation, Vice Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Serik Akhmetov said.

“We have defined five or six new cooperation avenues in the military and technical, defense and industrial sectors,” Serik Akhmetov stressed. Among them is the implementation of the automated troops management system. “The experience that Belarus possesses in this area will be very useful for us,” the Kazakhstan official said.

According to him, the maintenance and overhaul of armored vehicles is a new promising cooperation area. A group of Kazakh experts is currently in Borisov to study the Belarusian experience. “We are discussing a possibility to set up a joint venture and cooperate in the aircraft maintenance and overhaul,” Serik Akhmetov said. He added that the Kazakh delegation had visited the Belarusian companies of the military and industrial sector and praised their high sci-tech potential.

According to the Vice Premier of Kazakhstan, all the agreements reached between Belarus and Kazakhstan will be fully implemented.

Belarus and Kazakhstan intend to set up a joint venture for aircraft equipment repair, Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Serik Akhmetov told reporters after his meeting with Belarusian Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky.

The Kazakh Vice Premier noted that during the present visit to Belarus, the sides discussed a wide range of the issues related to the trade and economic cooperation, agriculture, industry and business development. The sides also considered the development of software for the armed forces of both the countries, the creation of joint ventures to develop the defence-industrial complex, the development of software for ground forces. “The Kazakh Defence Minister is expected to visit Belarus. He will be able to see the potential of your country to develop defence companies of Kazakhstan,” Serik Akhmetov said.

According to Serik Akhmetov, the sides are planned to set up a joint venture for aircraft equipment repair. “We could use the accumulated potential of Belarus to carry out temporary repair in Kazakhstan. Yesterday, I saw this potential during a visit to Minsk Aircraft Repair Plant No 558,” Serik Akhmetov said.

Belarus has accumulated a considerable experience in developing and using the troops automated process-control systems. “The Belarusian and Kazakh specialists will develop the software jointly,” the Kazakh Vice Premier noted.

According to him, the cooperation in repair of armored vehicles and systems for ground services is promising as well. The sides are interested in the joint development of energy-saving technologies and communications systems.

Kazakhstan is one of Belarus’ major trading and economic partners ranking third, after Russia and Ukraine, in Belarus’ trade with the CIS member states. In 2008, Belarus-Kazakhstan trade made up US 537 million, up 4.7% from a year earlier. Exports reached US 365.2 million, import - US 171.8 million. Belarus had a trade surplus of US 193.4 million.

In January-July 2009, the trade was down 34% to US 222 million. Exports shrank by 18.9% to \\$168.7 million, import – by 61.8% to US43.4 million.

Belarus’ main exports to Kazakhstan are tractors, dairy products, agricultural machinery, tires, furniture, trucks, medicines, paper products, baby food, refrigerators, gas stoves, loading-and-unloading machines, trailers. Belarus mainly imports rolled metal, conveyor belts, bearings and phosphor salt from Kazakhstan.

At present, there are several production facilities in Kazakhstan which assemble Belarusian tractors, combine harvesters, semitrailers, elevators and engines. The sides are considering around 30 joint projects including the joint development of the Kazakh potash salt fields.