During the 11th Forum of Russian and Belarusian Regions, governors updated the upper house speakers of the parliaments of Russia and Belarus on the progress in bilateral cooperation.
Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matvienko and Speaker of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus Natalya Kochanova met with their countries’ governors during the 11th Forum of Russian and Belarusian Regions.
Valentina Matvienko said in her opening remarks that the forum had broken another record “in terms of the number of participants, the level of issues on the agenda and the results, namely the number of documents and the volume of investment. This is proof of the relevance of this format. I believe that interregional cooperation is the backbone of the Union State, and the stronger contacts between our regions and people, the stronger our Union will become.”
She said that the leaders of Russia and Belarus Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko created a unique example for the rest of the word – the format of the Union State. “This format is based on mutual advantage and mutual respect, including for national interests and distinctive features. We are marching side by side. Both countries are becoming twice as strong due to this exceptionally effective and mutually beneficial cooperation. Our trade is growing exponentially. It is very good that over 90 percent of our transactions are conducted in national currencies. This is proof of our sovereignty; practice has shown that this is very effective at boosting our further development.”
“Nearly all entities of the Russian Federation are involved, in one form or another, in cooperation with Belarusian regions,” Valentina Matvienko pointed out. She urged the heads of Russian and Belarusian regions to find new points of contact and use their competitive advantages to promote cooperation, increase the effectiveness of our economies, and create new production chains. “Complementarity has a strong effect on the implementation of joint projects and programmes,” the speaker said, adding that industrial cooperation should be complemented with interregional cooperation in education, healthcare, social protection, and culture. “Taken together, this will help us further strengthen our fraternal relations and friendship,” she said.
She noted that the 10th Forum was attended by colleagues from the Donetsk People’s Republic, and the 11th Forum is also attended by delegates from the Lugansk People’s Republic as well as the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. “The new regions have an enormous industrial and research potential created during the Soviet era and favourable conditions for farming, providing an essential opportunity for promoting cooperation with Belarus,” Valentina Matvienko noted. She called on the Belarusian colleagues to take a closer look at these Russian regions and to promote maximum interaction with them.
The Federation Council as the house of regions and the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus believe that their top priority is supporting and assisting the development of interregional cooperation, the Federation Council Speaker said. “It is important that our regions are working non-stop to maintain permanent contacts. Nearly all Russian regions and economic operators, as well as businesses and scientists, are taking part in this practical and substantive multifaceted cooperation and interaction,” she said.
Valentina Matvienko noted that it is particularly important to strengthen interaction and fraternal cooperation amid the sanctions. “By combining our potentials, we become twice as strong. It is vital to take additional efforts in this difficult situation. To paraphrase one of our poets, I would say that your epoch is not for trying; it’s for living and for winning. And we will certainly win,” she concluded.
Natalya Kochanova began her address with expressing condolences to the fraternal Russian people and the families of victims in the attack on Sevastopol and the terrorist attack in Dagestan and wishing a speedy recovery to the wounded. “It is an outrage. Innocent civilians must not die. It is an abomination and savagery,” she said.
The Speaker of the Council of the Republic pointed out that the three-year development programme of the Union State focuses on breakthrough technologies and efforts to create competitive import substitute products. “We are keeping up the momentum, and our cooperation is developing effectively. There is still a lot to be done, but the results we have achieved are commendable. We can do anything if we support each other and know that our projects are yielding positive results,” Natalya Kochanova emphasised.
She added that sanctions had encouraged both countries to work more effectively and cooperate more closely, taking every effort to promote domestic production and modern groundbreaking technologies. She cited the evidence of bilateral trade for 2023, which increased by over 8 trillion Russian roubles last year and 2.3 trillion Russian roubles in January to April 2024.
Natalya Kochanova recalled that 615 cooperation agreements were signed between the regions in the past year thanks to the Forum, including 137 documents establishing partner relations and seven intergovernmental agreements.
The top ten Russian importers to Belarus last year included the Moscow Region, Moscow, the Smolensk Region, St Petersburg, the Bryansk and Leningrad regions, the Republic of Tatarstan, the Sverdlovsk and Rostov regions, and the Krasnodar Territory.
The Belarusian speaker called for focusing attention on the three spheres she regards as most promising. First, Natalya Kochanova believes it important to build up support mechanisms for Russian investors. Second, regional technology parks as innovative development subjects should play a greater role. Natalya Kochanova believes that this involves comprehensive work with potential investors, like it is being done at the Great Stone industrial park in Belarus and the Skolkovo Innovation Centre in Russia. And third, equal and stable conditions should be created for economic operators in both countries, with barriers to trade and investment lifted.
Smolensk Region Governor Vasily Anokhin spoke about the regions’ role in the integration in Russia and Belarus, citing his region as an example. He also said that the Smolensk Region opened a representative office in Minsk and proposed holding the 2027 Forum in Smolensk.
Address by Acting Governor of the Vologda Region Georgy Filimonov was devoted to the outlook for cooperation between his region and Belarus in the context of building the Union State’s innovative economy; he outlined growth points in various spheres. Novosibirsk Region Governor Andrei Travnikov focused on scientific and technological cooperation. Oryol Region Governor Andrei Klychkov reported on the specifics of ensuring the technological independence of Russia and Belarus based on industrial innovations, and spoke about increasing trade, expanding economic ties, and efforts to promote cooperation in education and science, as well as within innovation clusters. Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Krasnoyarsk Territory Alexei Dodatko said that partner ties between Russian and Belarusian regions are a vital element of interregional cooperation.
Chair of the Minsk Region Executive Committee Alexander Turchin pointed out two major factors of interregional cooperation – a common history and shared human values. Chair of the Minsk City Executive Committee Vladimir Kukharev spoke about the role of the unified system of innovative enterprises in the economy of the Union State and proposed unifying the two countries’ legislation on innovations. Chair of the Grodno Region Council of Deputies Yelena Pasyuta highlighted the special role of local governments and self-governing authorities in developing interregional cooperation, as well as in promoting cultural ties and improving youth policies. Chair of the Vitebsk Region Council of Deputies Dmitry Demidov proposed using industrial cooperation mechanisms for the economic development of Russian and Belarusian regions. He also reported on the volume of systemic economic projects and mutual trade. Chair of the Mogilev Region Executive Committee Anatoly Isachenko spoke about mutual trade with Russian regions and the priority objectives the attainment of which will boost the Union State’s economic growth.
Taking part in the meeting were Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council Yury Vorobyov, Deputy Speaker of the Council of the Republic Sergei Khomenko, Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Federal Structure, Regional Policy, Local Government and Northern Affairs Andrei Shevchenko, members of the Russian and Belarusian parliaments, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Chernyshenko, and State Secretary of the Union State Dmitry Mezentsev.
Following the meeting, Valentina Matvienko and Natalya Kochanova attended the ceremony to sign seven documents on cooperation between the executive and legislative authorities of Russian and Belarusian regions. Overall, over 250 agreements of various levels are scheduled to be signed within the framework of the 11th Forum of Russian and Belarusian Regions, whose main theme is The Role of Interregional Cooperation in Developing the Innovative Economy of the Union State.
Valentina Matvienko and Natalya Kochanova also held a bilateral meeting.