News

Oleg Melnichenko participated in the plenary session, which took place at the X Forum of the Regions of Russia and Belarus, chaired by the heads of the upper chambers of the parliaments of Russia and Belarus – Valentina Matviyenko and Natalia Kochanova.
The Presidents of the two countries addressed the meeting participants via video conference.
"Belarus is the first trade partner of Russia among the members of the Commonwealth of Independent States and the fourth in the world. In a number of regions of Belarus, with Russian support, the implementation of new import-substituting investment projects in such industries as mechanical engineering, machine tool construction, microelectronics etc. has begun. A full cycle of competitive high–tech industries is being created," Vladimir Putin stressed.
"It is important for us that even thousands of kilometers away from our country, Russians learn more about Belarus, and clearly see the prospect of the Belarusian-Russian partnership," Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
The heads of both states noted the importance of the forum as a promising platform for organizing effective cooperation aimed at developing the integration of Russia and Belarus.
Commenting on the results of the plenary session, the Governor of the Penza Oblast Oleg Melnichenko stated that he found the forum to be really productive.
"This is a platform to discuss and launch a huge number of economic ideas. But, besides the economy, there is also culture. The Penza Oblast has concluded multiple agreements on cultural exchange. Theaters, our artists, and our delegations interact. On June 22, Penza residents were in the Brest Fortress. Not a month goes by without meeting with each other or holding events," he said.
"The 10 years that the forum has been taking place can be considered the beginning of relations, and we still have many, many years of cooperation ahead of us," Oleg Melnichenko summed up.