Indian ambassador visits Mogilev Oblast
We need to expand the areas of cooperation between Belarus and India in promising areas: agriculture, education, textile industry and innovative technologies, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of India to Belarus Alok Ranjan Jha said during a meeting with Mogilev Oblast Governor Anatoly Isachenko, BelTA has learned.
"This is my first visit to Mogilev Oblast. Meetings like today's help broaden my understanding of the areas in which Belarus and India can cooperate. I already see that we can cooperate in agriculture, education, equipment and the textile industry," he said. “Belarus and India have long been interacting in some areas such as the pharmaceutical industry, the automotive industry, and higher education, so far in the medical field only. This cooperation goes way back but as for commercial cooperation it is under-tapped. I would like to find new avenues. It can be innovative technologies, the Internet of Things and so on. Because in terms of technology, Belarus is a very advanced country and we can find many points for cooperation."
Mogilev Oblast Governor Anatoly Isachenko noted that the two countries maintain an active high-level dialogue. "In recent years, we have seen an uptick in foreign trade between Mogilev Oblast and India. Comprehensive cooperation is maintained via the Free Economic Zone Mogilev. Representatives of the indian business circles visited Mogilev Oblast for the investment forum "The Mill of Success". Recently, at the World Expo 2020 in Dubai, the Mogilev FEZ and two Indian companies signed cooperation agreements to implement investment projects in our economic zone," he said.
Last year, the trade between Mogilev Oblast and the Republic of India totaled almost $6 million. Exports came at $1 million, imports at $4.7 million. “I would like to note the interest of the Belarusian tire-maker Belshina in establishing direct contacts with Indian manufacturers of natural rubber, chemical products for the tire and rubber industries. The newsprint mill is also interested in increasing the supply of its products to the Indian market," Governor Anatoly Isachenko said.
Mogilev is home to the Energytechgreen company with Indian investments . It was registered in August 2021. The main line of business is environmentally friendly innovations. It specializes in the restoration (regeneration) of all types of batteries used in road, rail and river transport, special equipment, in industry and communications, wind turbines and solar panels. Mogilev Oblast supplies its products to the Indian market. Mogilev Oblast's major export items to India were carbon black, newsprint, timber and more and import items. The Belarusian region imports complex synthetic threads, medicines, footwear components, parts for internal combustion engines. However, the level and scale of trade and economic cooperation, according to the governor, does not correspond to the potential.
"We discussed several issues at the meeting. We will send our proposals to the Embassy of India in Belarus so that they can on-send them to those who may be interested. This will help to establish the necessary communications to promote our interests in the Indian market," said Anatoly Isachenko. “Joint work with Indian partners is robust in the region: a joint venture has been launched, exports and imports have been established. Of course, the trade is modest, but compared to 2020, it rose by more than 24%. But that doesn't mean that enough has been done. We need to step up work on this front, especially since the prospects are great.”
A separate set of issue during the meeting was related to the cooperation in education. Ambassador Alok Ranjan Jha urged to tap into the potential in this area of cooperation and to establish cooperation between the Belarusian State Agricultural Academy and Indian universities. Anatoly Isacheno also noted the need and importance of developing student cooperation.
After the meeting with the Mogilev Oblast governor, the ambassador visited Mogotex, the region's largest textile enterprise. Tomorrow the Indian ambassador is set to meet with the regional business community and visit the private research and production enterprise Technolit.