Meeting with head of Russia's Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov

Belarus and Russia stake high hopes on cooperation in the manufacturing sector, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he met with the head of Russia's Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov in Minsk on 13 April.

"In cooperation with Russia we stake high hopes on the manufacturing sector. This is why the Russian President and I once again paid special attention to this during bilateral negotiations and a meeting of the Supreme State Council of the Union State last week," Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

According to him, the results of the joint work are already visible. The President cited the example of cooperation in the manufacturing sector with Tatarstan. In Kazan, there is a trade and production company MTZ-Tatarstan which has become a hub for many Belarusian enterprises. Minsk Motor Plant together with Tatarstan partners are designing modern gas engines. "It would be nice if you could help speed up their certification and launch their batch production," the head of state said.

The Belarusian Industry Ministry and KAMAZ agreed to advance cooperation in the production of various automotive parts, components, assemblies and microelectronics. "We just need to move faster. We need to speed up. Time forces us to accelerate," the Belarusian leader said.

In 2021 alone, Belarus and Russia imported $19 billion worth of automotive components for the transport engineering. The President stressed that this is huge money that must be saved to stay in the countries. "You and I can play a major role here," he added.

Aleksandr Lukashenko recalled that plans are in place to launch about 15 projects in mechanical engineering within the framework of the Union State. The issues of their financing have been resolved. Belarus and Russia will jointly produce a wide range of goods: microcircuits, rock haulers, farm machines, and other equipment. "We just need to fight any delays," the head of state said.