Joint Belarusian-Russian Business Council meeting within the 9th Forum of Regions of Belarus and Russia

Within the 9^th Forum of Regions of Belarus and Russia, which is being held in Grodno this year, a meeting of the Joint Belarusian-Russian Business Council was held. The event has been organized by the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation.

The meeting was attended by Deputy Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus on Economy, Budget and Finance, Chairman of Novopolotsk City Executive Committee Dmitry Demidov, Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Economic Policy of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Ivan Abramov, First Deputy Minister of Economy of the Republic of Belarus Yuri Chebotar, Chairman of the BelCCI Mikhael Miatlikov, President of the Chamber of Commerce of the Russian Federation Sergey Katyrin, Co-Chairs of the Business Council – Deputy Chairman of Minsk City Executive Committee Nadezhda Lazarevich (on the Belarusian side), Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vozdukhotechnica JSC Alexander Yastrib (on the Russian side), heads of Russian Regional Chambers of Commerce and Industry and more than 120 representatives of business circles of both countries.

Addressing the participants of the meeting, the Chairman of the BelCCI Mikhael Miatlikov stressed that the meeting of the Business Council has become even more important given the conditions in which Belarusian and Russian businesses have to work today. This event aroused considerable interest from the Belarusian and Russian business circles: representatives of 19 Russian regions and heads of 58 Belarusian companies took part in the meeting.

The Chairman of the BelCCI noted that 2022 has become the year of challenges and opportunities for both Belarus and Russia. Despite the difficulties, the cooperation between the two countries has always developed, including due to prompt discussion and resolution of problematic issues at the site of the Joint Belarusian-Russian Business Council.

 "The issues to be discussed on the sidelines of today's Council meeting will primarily involve the entrepreneurship support in new realities. I am sure that the meeting will be successful, the agreements concluded will open up new horizons for our countries' businesses, the Business Council itself will remain a reliable platform for the Belarusian-Russian business dialogue,' Mikhael Miatlikov said.

The participants discussed topical issues of Belarusian-Russian cooperation, including import substitution and domestic market protection, industrial potential integration, support mechanisms for entrepreneurship with new challenges in mind, digital technologies for business, opportunities to protect the interests of suppliers and buyers through the procedure of international commercial arbitration.

In addition, representatives of Belarusian and Russian businesses signed 12 bilateral documents that will enable launching new integration projects. They include the updated version of the cooperation agreement between the BelCCI and the CCI of Russia, a number of agreements between the regional chambers of commerce and industry of both countries, a cooperation agreement between the Association of Evaluation Organizations and the Foundation for the Development of Professional Qualifications of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Russian Federation, and others.

After the plenary part of the Joint Business Council meeting, representatives of the business circles of Belarus and Russia continued working in B2B format. They discussed the possibilities of mutually beneficial cooperation in mechanical engineering, instrumentation, construction and housing, agriculture, food, light, chemical industry, logistics, services, and others.