COMMENT: Lokomotiv is an industrial cooperative. More than 60% of Bryansk region's foreign trade goes to Belarus

Yulia Ganakova HEAD of the Analytical Department of the National Center for Marketing and Price Study Belarus has traditionally been a key trade and economic partner of the Bryansk Region: more than 60% of the region's total foreign trade turnover is generated by our republic. Kazakhstan and CHINA are also among the top three , although their shares do not exceed 12% and 8%, respectively. The economic situation in the Russian region is worthy of analysts' attention: the main industries in the Bryansk Region are manufacturing, the agricultural sector, wholesale and retail trade, and auto repair. Among the manufacturing industries, the driver of economic development is mechanical engineering: food, railway, agricultural, oil and gas, and automotive engineering. And Belarus sees potential for developing relations in this area, both in terms of supplies and in the case of organizing joint ventures. Prospects are also visible in the agro-industrial complex and science, construction, and exchange trading. Yulia Ganakova, Head of the Analytical Department of the National Center for Marketing and Price Study, helped a BELTA correspondent assess the horizons of Belarusian-Bryansk cooperation.

The Gomel Region has established the strongest ties with the Bryansk Region.

Belarus is the main partner of the Russian region in foreign trade, however, the Belarusian regions make an unequal contribution to achieving this high figure. Thus, the Gomel Region accounts for 35% of the republic's total trade with the Bryansk Region. No other region in the country has such a decent percentage. The list of goods supplied from Belarus to the Bryansk Region largely corresponds to the top 20 most imported items by the region as a whole.

These include machines for harvesting and threshing agricultural crops, plastic products for transportation and storage, bulldozers, graders, excavators, loaders, spare parts and accessories for machines and special equipment, pebbles, gravel, crushed stone and crushed stone, wagons and equipment for railways, chipboard, OSB and their analogues, trailers and semi-trailers, industrial equipment for cooking, wallpaper, ferrous metals, bicycle tires, pumps, tractors. Bryansk Oblast also buys a lot of food abroad: cheeses andcottage cheese , condensed MILK and cream, butter , apples, beef , confectionery. "A typical agreement on the development of bilateral relations between Belarus and the

Bryansk region in the trade, economic, scientific, technical and cultural vectors was concluded back in 2000," said Yulia Ganakova. - The Russian region signed regional agreements on cooperation in a variety of areas with each region of Belarus. However, in the case of the Gomel region, the agreement on the development of relations was updated in May of this year. An action plan has also been developed to implement the most recent agreements reached. Belarus's business relations with this region of RUSSIA are also characterized by business visits. Last year, a delegation led by the head of the Bryansk region visited Belarus twice."

Agrologistics networks, transport engineering, construction industry and high-tech production. Where is the scope of investment interests?

The expert notes that in order to determine the prospects, it is necessary to thoroughly understand the needs of the Bryansk region economy , and only then, having compared them with the capabilities of Belarus, choose how the republic can be useful to the Russian region in each specific case. The head of the analytical department listed six industry priorities of the investment policy of the Bryansk region. The first is the development of the agro-industrial complex and agro-logistics network. The most promising areas for attracting private investors, according to the specialist, are the creation of a selection and genetic center for the reproduction of dairy and beef cows, the development of breeding centers and the creation of wholesale distribution centers and modern specialized storage facilities.

Number two on the list of priorities is the expansion of the production base of transport engineering. Promising areas in this case are the expansion of production of railway rolling stock at the Novozybkov Machine-Building Plant and the production of freight mainline diesel locomotives at the Bryansk Machine-Building Plant. As Yulia Ganakova clarified, the Russian government has approved a strategy for the development of transport engineering for 2030, which provides for the creation of joint projects with a high level of localization in the country. In this regard, the next area where a significant amount of investment is directed in the Bryansk region is the development of industries related to mechanical engineering. According to the expert, the expansion of the production chain and increased localization of the mechanical engineering industry involves the development of the electronics industry first of all. The production of uninterruptible power supplies and additional battery modules, and the release of microelectronics are also considered as promising areas.

The fourth investment priority is the development of transport and logistics, integration into federal transit corridors. A promising vector here is attracting investors to implement projects to create a transport and logistics center of interregional significance and transport and logistics centers of regional significance in the border and transit areas of the Bryansk region, for example, in the Novozybkovsko-Klintsovsky industrial region.

Due to the presence of a rich mineral resource base in the region of Russia (and construction and quartz sand, chalk, peat, clay, marl are mined here), the construction industry is actively developing in the Bryansk region. It is not surprising that investors have identified the modernization of the construction industry, increasing the volume of housing construction, and implementing housing and utilities projects as priority number five. Analysts took into account the high level of depreciation of the communal infrastructure of the Russian region, which on average in the region is more than 50%, and as a priority of investment policy they identified attracting private investors to implement housing and utilities projects in the format of public-private partnership.

Finally, the final (but not least) industry priority of the investment policy of the Bryansk region is the creation of innovative high-tech industries. The emphasis in this case is on the chemical industry, the forestry complex and information and communication technologies. In particular, in the chemical industry, the priority areas for attracting investors are the production of mineral fertilizers, the pharmaceutical industry, as well as the production of plastic products, tires and rubber products, paints and varnishes and synthetic fibers. A promising niche in the forestry complex is the production of furniture and wood products. The Russian state program "Digital Economy" also dictates the need for investment support for startups and small and medium-sized businesses in the development and implementation of digital technologies.

Prospects for Belarus

"Considering the developed sectors of the economy of the Bryansk region, Belarus and the Russian region are strengthening trade and economic relations by expanding joint ventures, as well as through cooperation in the agro-industrial complex and science, construction," the head of the analytical department emphasized.

First, the expert focused on the results achieved by the partners in creating joint ventures. One of the successful industrial integration projects is the Belarusian assembly production of Gomselmash products based on Bryanskselmash, whose main activities are the production and sale of agricultural machinery and spare parts for it, as well as warranty and service maintenance of its products. Yulia Ganakova added that the enterprise plans to expand production by producing combine harvesters.

Another major joint project in this Russian region for the Belarusian side was cooperation in the production of special equipment of the domestic brand AMKODOR at the AMKODOR-Bryansk enterprise, which, by the way, is included in the list of systemically important enterprises of the Bryansk region and is one of the largest manufacturers of self-propelled vehicles in Russia. According to the expert, the Russians plan to expand production by producing municipal vehicles based on Belarusian chassis.

"Belarus has also expressed its readiness to supply emergency and fire-fighting and rescue equipment, medical vehicles, buses and trolleybuses, and high-tech equipment from machine-building enterprises to the Bryansk region," noted a representative of the National Marketing Center. "The issue of supplying equipment from machine-building enterprises of Belarus under preferential financing and leasing conditions is being considered."

Belarusian-Bryansk cooperation is not complete without agriculture. Taking into account the high level of development of the agricultural sector of both parties and the fact that the Bryansk region is one of the leaders in Russia in terms of yields of key crops, in particular rapeseed and corn, agricultural technologies, supplies of elite seeds and agricultural machinery are in demand in the region. In the Bryansk region, cattle are also bred in large quantities and with high quality . Agreements have already been reached, as Yulia Ganakova noted, on the supply of domestic compound feed and feed additives for farm animals to the Russian region.

"The relevant departments of Belarus and the Bryansk region are working on the issue of creating a cluster in the Bryansk region for the production of seeds of grain, potatoes and fruit and berry crops. The plans also include the creation of a council for the implementation of modern technologies in crop production and livestock farming," the expert added.

Yulia Ganakova sees certain prospects for Belarus in cooperation with the Bryansk region in construction. The Belarusian side has already expressed its readiness to participate in projects to build social housing in the Russian region. Given the growing volumes of construction in the Bryansk region, Belarus considers EXPORT deliveries of elevators and car parking systems that allow for the efficient use of space to be promising for itself. The expert noted that some Bryansk developers are already including the possibility of using Belarusian elevators in their house designs. The parties are also considering the issue of expanding the volumes of joint road construction projects, projects for the construction and reconstruction of water supply networks.

Another area of ​​development of Belarusian-Bryansk relations, in which experts also see prospects, is electronic exchange trading. According to the Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange, the exchange turnover of Belarus and the Bryansk region is relatively balanced: transactions are concluded in both import and export directions. Domestic enterprises buy grain and oilseeds from Bryansk partners, while Belarusian enterprises supply lumber, cement and cellular concrete blocks to the Russian region.

"Of course, the interaction with the Bryansk region is not limited to the above," Yulia Ganakova emphasized. "Our enterprises can independently study investment projects that are a priority for the partner region and take an active part in them, based on their own capabilities. We should not discount the increase in export volumes of products, for which there is already positive experience of supplying."