Belarus and Smolensk region to increase trade turnover up to $5 billion

One of the most important Russian cities for Belarus is Smolensk. It is one of the top three in terms of trade with our country, which increased by 13% last year and added another 8% over the first five months of this year, so there is every possibility of crossing the $5 billion mark in the future. In what areas do we have established ties? And where are the new opportunities for cooperation? Darya Belousova-Petrovskaya visited a Russian city on the Dnieper River.

Of all Russian cities, Smolensk is closest to the Belarusian border. It is just over 60 km off the Vitebsk Region. Smolensk is also a major railway hub. Long-distance trains, which go to 10 major European cities, from Minsk and Brest to Paris and Nice, run through it.

An advantageous geographical location has turned Smolensk into a logistics hub for supplies of Belarusian machinery. The only distributor of MAZ in Russia is located in the region. From here domestic buses, trolley buses and trucks go to all Russian regions: from Smolensk region to Vladivostok and Sakhalin. In fact, MAZ-RUS is the link between the plant and the buyer, ensuring the security of the deal for both parties.

Sergey Karaban, deputy director of the branch of MAZ-RUS LLC in Smolensk (Russia):

There have been cases of unscrupulous dealers and buyers, when the plant supplied machinery directly, and the buyer did not return the VAT. Accordingly, our company "MAZ-RUS" sells machinery with VAT. We have protected ourselves and, first and foremost, the plant from VAT non-recovery. All equipment that is sold is sold at the VAT rate of 20%.

There is also a factory in Smolensk, which produces complex road machinery based on MAZ chassis. These are multi-purpose vehicles that work on snow removal in winter, and in summer, they water the streets to get rid of dirt and dust. The company has been cooperating with Belarus since the early 90s. And today the enterprise's lineup consists of ten MAZ models.

Maxim Levkin, commercial director of LLC KDM Plant (Smolensk, Russia):

The machines are in demand, the machines are popular. The enterprise manufactures about 30% of its products on the basis of MAZ trucks. We are planning our integration to strengthen and expand our production, to cooperate with MAZ plant directly and to reach the figure of 50% of total output in the next two years.

In addition to cooperation in mechanical engineering, Smolensk region wants to cooperate with Belarus in agriculture. It concerns cattle breeding, poultry farming and breeding selection. Also, in Smolensk a large-scale program for the development of infrastructure is being launched. Belarus will upgrade passenger transport and install domestic water purification stations.