OREANDA-NEWS. On April, 11 the official delegation of the Republic of Karelia led by Head of Karelia Alexander Khudilainen was on a working visit to the Republic of Crimea.

During the visit Alexander Khudilainen and representatives of the delegation of Karelia had a meeting with First Deputy Chairman of the State Council of the Republic of Crimea Grigory Ioffe, Deputy Chairman of the State Council Konstantin Bakharev, chairman of the Crimean State Council's commission for health resorts and tourism Alexei Chernyak held in the State Council of the Republic of Crimea, and with Prime Minister Sergei Aksenov in the Council of Ministers of the Crimean Republic.

The parties have discussed opportunities of mutually advantageous cooperation between two republics in such spheres as economy, public health, science, and culture, establishing of contacts between institutions and enterprises, opportunities of exchange of experience.

In particular, prospects of Karelia's participation in the federal program for the development of Crimea may be related to timber and roadmetal supplies to the peninsula. A special issue, very important for northerners, is strengthening of cooperation in the sphere of public health and welfare. Besides, as Russian legislation is being introduced in the territory of Crimea, it requires creation of legislative framework of the region and development of the system of local government, and Karelia can share its experience regarding these issues.

The key event of the meeting in the Council of Ministers of the Crimean Republic was signing of the Agreement on trade, economic, scientific, technical, and cultural cooperation between the two republics. Alexander Khudilainen and Sergei Aksenov have subscribed their names to the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Karelia and the Council of Ministers of the Crimean Republic.

Crimea and Karelia have been supporting economic, social, and cultural cooperation established long time ago. At the same time, the current Agreement was signed within Russia's inter-regional relations which opens up new possibilities for strengthening of bilateral partnership. The agreement will provide background for development of cooperation in implementation of projects and programs in future.

Later Head of Karelia Alexander Khudilainen had a meeting with Vladimir Konstantinov, Chairman of the the State Council of the Republic of Crimea.

Head of Karelia has invited the Crimea's leadership for cordial welcome and has invited them to come to Karelia on a return visit. The program of the visit of Karelia's official delegation to Crimea also included trips to industrial sites of a large building enterprise, as well as to Taurida National V.I.Vernadsky University.

It should be mentioned that the delegation of Karelia included Vladimir Semyonov, Chairman of the Legislative Assembly of the Republic of Karelia, Olga Sokolova, Deputy Minister of Health and Social Development of the Republic of Karelia, Konstantin Tarasov, Vice Rector for Academic Affairs of PetrSU, Valery Puchkov, Executive Director of Kalevala Woodworking Plant Ltd., and Ekaterina Biktimirova, Chairlady of the Youth Government of the republic.