COMMENT: Almost 40% of exports are milk. What niches does Belarus claim in cooperation with St. Petersburg?

Evgeniy Rusak Deputy DIRECTOR of the National Center for Marketing and Price Research Belarusian exports to the northern capital of RUSSIA are demonstrating stable growth dynamics. Traditionally, about 40% of the total supply comes from animal products: cheeses andcottage cheese , butter ,yogurt and kefir , MILK and condensed cream. Another almost 15% of exports are made up of machinery and equipment - monitors and projectors, elevators, integrated circuits. The top 10 goods purchased by St. Petersburg from Belarus also include plastic packaging, food products -ice cream , SUGAR , canned MEAT and fish, canned vegetables and juices, textiles - chemical threads and knitted clothing, metals - ferrous metal products, tools and products made of base metals, as well as cement and SALT , paper and cardboard , furniture and goods from wood However, relations between Belarus and St. Petersburg, of course, do not end with trade. Deputy Director of the National Center for Marketing and Price Research Evgeniy Rusak told a BELTA correspondent what vacated niches Belarus is striving to occupy in the market of the cultural capital of Russia, which is also one of the largest industrial centers and transport hubs of the Russian Federation.
Cooperation of all formats and levels

St. Petersburg is known as the Venice of the North, the city of white nights, proud of its museum collections, famous for its musical and theatrical traditions, unique architectural monuments, libraries and art galleries. However, at the same time, St. Petersburg is one of the industrial centers of Russia. The largest share in the city's industry is occupied by mechanical engineering and metalworking, food and light industry, and electric power. The agro-industrial complex plays an important role. As Evgeniy Rusak clarified, the range of products produced by local enterprises in the food and processing industry covers more than 60% of the city’s consumer market. At the end of 2023, St. Petersburg took third place among the regions of the Russian Federation in terms of socio-economic situation. Only Moscow and the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug have higher indicators.

“The governments of Belarus and St. Petersburg signed an agreement on cooperation in the trade, economic, scientific, technical and socio-cultural spheres. A number of programs are in place,” said the deputy director of the National Marketing Center. “A roadmap for trade, economic, scientific -technical and humanitarian cooperation, from 2023 to 2025 there is an action plan to support joint scientific and scientific-technical projects and from 2022 to 2024 a program of scientific and technical cooperation between educational and scientific organizations."
Several documents at the regional level were also signed. Thus, a road map of cooperation between MINSK and St. Petersburg in the field of education, a road map of cooperation between the Grodno region and the Central District of St. Petersburg, a protocol of intent between the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee and the administration of the Petrodvorets District of St. Petersburg are valid.

The expert noted that the described programs provide for the strengthening and development of comprehensive relations between Belarus and St. Petersburg across the widest spectrum - in the areas of innovation, digital information, communication and interdisciplinary technologies, light and food industries, in the field of interuniversity interaction, culture and youth policy, biological, medical, pharmaceutical and chemical technologies, in the field of energy, construction, ecology and environmental management, in mechanical engineering and instrument making.

“For each of the vectors, Belarus sees specific prospects,” emphasized Evgeniy Rusak. “I would like to note that to increase the investment attractiveness of St. Petersburg and provide assistance to investors and entrepreneurs in the region, a lot has been done by Russian colleagues. Thus, there is a system of state support measures that includes many preferential zones: 34 industrial territories, the special economic zone "St. Petersburg", industrial parks "Zvezda", "Maryino", as well as "A Plus Park St. Petersburg-1", "A Plus Park St. Petersburg" -2", "A Plus Park St. Petersburg-3", industrial park "Sofia", technology park "Lenpoligrafmash".
In St. Petersburg, much attention is paid to the quality of the urban environment.

Today, Belarus and St. Petersburg are developing such vectors of interaction as import substitution, industrial cooperation, digitalization of production and infrastructure, ensuring food security.

The representative of the National Marketing Center once again emphasized that cooperation between Belarus and St. Petersburg is stimulated by a favorable investment policy. One of its priorities is improving the quality of the urban environment, which, according to experts, opens up new horizons for domestic exporters. Evgeniy Rusak offers to understand the key tasks for the St. Petersburg economy that are necessary to fulfill the designated priority.

“Six main points have been identified, namely the acquisition of vehicles for passenger transportation with stricter requirements for environmental characteristics, the construction of multi-level interchanges and transport hubs to increase the transport connectivity of the territory of St. Petersburg, the improvement of the automated control system for urban transport and its subsystems,” he listed expert. “The list of tasks also includes updating the rolling stock of railway transport, continuing the reform of the housing and communal services sector, and building recycling plants, waste sorting and waste transfer stations, and waste processing plants using the most modern and safe technologies.”

According to the deputy director of the National Marketing Center, when planning the development of cooperation with St. Petersburg, Belarus relies on areas in demand in the Russian region. Here are examples of this.

An ambulance based on MAZ and the Association of Schools of St. Petersburg and Minsk: what large-scale projects with Belarusian participation are they talking about in St. Petersburg today?
“One of the key vectors for us is the supply of transport and municipal equipment to the northern capital of Russia,” said Evgeny Rusak. “Belarus has plans to implement a major image project: the construction of a multi-brand center in St. Petersburg for the sale of Belarusian equipment. In addition, it is being discussed the question of our participation in the transport modernization of the passenger fleet of St. Petersburg."

Belarusian equipment of various classes is respected and cherished in Russia. St. Petersburg does not stand out among other regions in this regard: contracts for the supply there of high-capacity MAZ diesel buses, Belkommunmash trolleybuses, fire fighting equipment and various municipal equipment are already being fulfilled. St. Petersburg is also interested in purchasing Belarusian electric buses. A representative of the National Marketing Center added that St. Petersburg partners are discussing the possibility of creating an ambulance based on MAZ.
“We understand that an important element of long-term cooperation in the supply of equipment is the possibility of its high-quality maintenance, therefore in St. Petersburg it is planned to build a MAZ service center and organize a separate regional warehouse for spare parts,” said Evgeny Rusak. “Between the parties, in addition, there is an agreement to work out the issues cooperation in terms of production and localization of equipment from MAZ, Belkommunmash, MTZ and AMKODOR in St. Petersburg."

Belarusian elevator equipment is also in demand in St. Petersburg. A joint Belarusian-Russian enterprise, Nevsky Lift, even appeared in St. Petersburg. At the same time, the parties planned to continue cooperation on the supply of Mogilevliftmash elevators. The expert said that a cooperation agreement had been signed between Mogilevliftmash OJSC and the Housing Committee of St. Petersburg, which envisaged a large supply of elevator equipment to the city on the Neva. Active interaction is also observed in the pharmaceutical industry. The Ministry of HEALTH of Belarus has established ties with the Russian biotechnology company JSC Biocad. Fulfillment of the points of the signed cooperation agreement, according to Evgeniy Rusak, will increase the availability of vital drugs for domestic patients by simplifying and speeding up logistics and financial chains.

Belarus and St. Petersburg also cooperate in the fields of education, culture, and science. Relations in the research field are developing dynamically. As a representative of the National Marketing Center clarified, the partners are even planning to create an Association of Schools in St. Petersburg and Minsk. The base site for educational institutions on the Russian side will be gymnasium No. 32 of the Vasileostrovsky district.

“There are many prospects, no less plans. All that remains is to work on their implementation,” summed up Deputy Director of the National Marketing Center Evgeniy Rusak.