OREANDA-NEWS. August 20, 2010. Belarus hopes to increase trade with Tatarstan, Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky said as he met with President of Russia’s Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov in Minsk.

At the start of the meeting Sergei Sidorsky expressed his condolences over fire deaths in Russia. “We in Belarus deeply regret the loss of life resulting from the fires across Russian regions. On behalf of myself and members of the Government I extend the condolences to all those affected by the disaster,” he said.

The Prime Minister also said that he is familiar with the troubled situation in the agricultural industry of Tatarstan as a result of the adverse weather conditions. “We are ready to discuss the issues, which could help Tatarstan out,” he said.

Sergei Sidorsky remarked that in the course of his visit to Tatarstan in May this year the sides agreed to increase the bilateral trade which fell in the wake of the financial crisis in 2009.

“We have signed a protocol to expand the participation of economic agents in the mutual deliveries of goods and setting up joint manufactures,” Sergei Sidorsky said.

President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov said that Tatarstan would like to purchase Belarusian farm produce.

According to Rustam Minnikhanov, this year Tatarstan was hit by devastating drought that caused bad harvest. “We could not even imagine that the yield will be so poor. We had thought that instead of 5 million tonnes of grain we would crop 1 million tonnes, but we had to slash our grain forecast to 700,000 tonnes,” he said.

The President of Tatarstan added that the fodder conservation is among the major concerns as the republic has a well-developed cattle-breeding industry. Tatarstan is doing its utmost to prepare fodder, but it is likely to ask Belarus for help, “There are two issues on the agenda today: potatoes and a possibility to buy grain. We will consider the purchase of succulent fodder and haylage as well.”

Sergei Sidorsky informed that Belarus has cut hay for the third time this year and suggested discussing the transportation of fodder to Tatarstan.

Belarus to be major supplier of potatoes to Tatarstan, President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov told reporters when summing up his meeting with the Prime Minister of Belarus.

At first Belarus will export 40,000 tonnes of potatoes to Tatarstan, later the supplies may grow to 100,000 tonnes.

The President of Tatarstan emphasized that the republic would like to buy Belarusian grain as well. “The heat affected the agriculture of Tatarstan, in particular, the areas dominated by crop production,” he said. Therefore, Tatarstan is considering a possibility to purchase from 100,000 to 500,000 tonnes of grain to be used as fodder, combined feed and other purposes. “There is a great need for fodder grain, and we rely on the supplies from Belarus,” he said.

Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky assured the President of Tatarstan that Belarus will fully execute any grain order of Tatarstan. This pertains, first of all, to the supplies of potatoes. Belarus will also supply automotive vehicles to the wholesale warehouses of Tatarstan. “Besides, we have discussed the supplies of critical commodity groups, like sugar and cereals,” Sergei Sidorsky informed.

The parties agreed that Belarus will hold autumn agricultural fairs in Tatarstan. The President of Tatarstan pledged assistance in holding the events. According to Sergei Sidorsky, Belarus will trade in major agricultural products at the fairs, including cabbage, beet and potatoes. Light industry products are to be presented in Tatarstan, too. “The products are of high quality and are reasonably priced,” Sergei Sidorsky emphasized.

Belarus and Tatarstan plan to restore the trade to the pre-crisis levels, Prime Minister of Belarus told reporters.

I think all prerequisites are in place so that we could consolidate the trade growth trends by the end of the year – early next year, the Belarusian head of Government said. According to Sergei Sidorsky, Belarus and Tatarstan had the highest bilateral trade turnover worth USD1.3 billion in 2008. 2009 witnessed an economic recession, with the trade plummeting to USD500 million. However, since the beginning of the year the trade ahs alerady reached USD400 million. When we met in May we agreed that we would facilitate the trade by means of signing direct contracts and by dint of assembling 5,000 tractor sets this year. We also agreed to launch deliveries of Belarusian trolleybuses and trams to Kazan, Sergei Sidorsky said.

Belarus and Tatarstan have concrete projects on assembly facilities, supply of farm machines, according to Sergei Sidorsky. All these projects are under control in Belarus and Tatarstan. “I think the bilateral trade will rebound to the pre-crisis levels, Sergei Sidorsky added.

Tatarstan and Belarus have great potential for promoting cooperation in the petrochemical complex, Rustam Minnikhanov told.

According to the President of Tatarstan, “Belarus and Tatarstan have a huge potential to supply oil and oil products.” “We are currently studying this matter,” he said.

Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky noted that petrochemical enterprises of Belarus and Tatarstan have established good contacts. “We have upheld the agreements of our petrochemical enterprises. This pertains to the supplies of tyres, rubber, chemical components to Belarus to produce final products and the supplies of chemical components from Belarus.”

The Prime Minister underlined that such agreements had been concluded and are now implemented.

Belarus and Tatarstan have exchanged the experience in wildfires prevention and control, Sergei Sidorsky told.

“We discussed possible technology which can be used in emergency situations,” the Prime Minister said. The level of such technologies is high both in Belarus and in Tatarstan, he added.

Firefighting functions in Belarus are vested on the Emergencies Ministry and forest services. “The system of prevention and monitoring of wildfire that has been created in Belarus has proved effective. It is fires prevention and control that is most important,” he said. Belarus and Tatarstan have had such experience.

It is important that today when Russia is dealing with the terrible consequences of the hot weather, we agreed to meet and see how Belarus could help its friends in Tatarstan, the Belarusian Prime Minister said when summing up his meeting with the President of Tatarstan.