Industrial cooperation: aircraft, railways, software, other

The topics of industrial cooperation and import substitution continue to dominate the Belarusian-Russian agenda. The parties entered into an intergovernmental agreement on the mutual recognition of bank guarantees in state (municipal) procurement.

After the West imposed sanctions in the Union State (US), special attention began to be paid to the implementation of the digital sovereignty of Belarus and Russia, said Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk after a meeting of the High-Level Group of the Council of Ministers of the Union State in Mahiliou. According to the official, countries need to work with the Russian Federation and Belarus to work on import substitution of foreign software.

Belarus and Russia are discussing the prospects for the implementation of two large joint projects – joint production and maintenance of aircraft, as well as the construction of a second railway line to the Leningrad region. A. Lukashenka spoke about a telephone conversation with V. Putin, which took place the day before and during which these two projects were discussed.

The Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister discussed import substitution in a broader context, recalling that industrial cooperation will reduce the dependence of the industry of the Eurasian Economic Union countries on imported components, technologies and equipment.

In general, for the period 2024-2026. In Belarus, it is planned to implement 16 integration (predominantly import-substituting) projects with Russia for a total amount of about BYN 2.4 billion. These data are presented in an analytical note prepared by the Economic Research Institute of the Ministry of Economy of Belarus.

Belarus and Russia have concluded an intergovernmental agreement on the mutual recognition of bank guarantees in state (municipal) procurement. The purpose of the document is to ensure equal access for enterprises of the two countries to each other’s public procurement systems. As a result, Belarusian banks in Russia, and Russian banks in Belarus, will be able to issue guarantees to their clients when participating in tenders in another country. For clients, the developers of the document say, this is cheaper and more convenient than looking for a guarantor in an unfamiliar market

The Russian Ministry of Finance said that almost all technical and regulatory differences had been resolved as part of a pilot project that began with the participation of seven Belarusian banks in May 2022 and is expected to last until the end of 2023. Since the start of the project, 50 bank guarantees worth more than RUB 1 billion have already been issued.

Deputies of Belarus and Russia have begun developing a model law on cross-border cooperation in the Union State, which they plan to complete by the end of the year. According to a representative of the Belarusian parliament, the parties have differences in legislative acts, so it is necessary to unify approaches to facilitate interaction between regions.