Glubokoe regional executive committee

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The visiting card of the city
The visiting card of the city
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25 April 2015

Latvia named among major trading partners of Vitebsk Oblast

Latvia is one of the ten states, the enterprises of which are major trading partners of Vitebsk Oblast, Deputy Chairman of the Vitebsk Oblast Executive Committee Oleg Matskevich said at a meeting of twin towns and partners of Belarus and Latvia, BelTA has learned.

Oleg Matskevich noted that three Belarusian-Latvian meetings were already held, and two of them were hosted by Vitebsk Oblast. According to him, this is further evidence that the two regions of Belarus and Latvia maintain sustainable, long-term links and that there is a mutual interest in their further development.

Annual foreign trade between Vitebsk Oblast and Latvian regions is about $120 million. Vitebsk Oblast is home to about 50 enterprises with the Latvian participation. They are engaged in trade, timber processing, and provision of transport services. New projects were launched in the manufacture of packaging materials, construction mixes, and production of biogas.

Oleg Matskevich noted that the districts and cities of Vitebsk Oblast and the Latvian region signed 27 cooperation agreements (Vitebsk Oblast has more only with the subjects of the Russian Federation).

Oleg Matskevich also said that Europe’s largest territorial entity Lake District, which includes all the border districts of Vitebsk Oblast, Latvia and Lithuania (total of 32 districts), was launched in 1998. The towns of Glubokoye and Braslav house the Belarusian bureaus of the Euroregion. According to the Vice Governor, a solid foundation has been laid for the joint implementation of projects financed by the EU in the social sector, environment and energy.

Work on improving the border crossing infrastructure is ongoing. For example, in 2014 Braslav District completed a project to build an access road to the Kaplava-Plusy checkpoint for small-scale border traffic. “With the participation of the Latvian border regions (Daugavpils, Rezekne, Kraslava, Ludza, Preili) we have been implementing projects in tourism, healthcare and education,” Oleg Matskevich informed.

"It is important that the biggest projects Latvia-Lithuania-Belarus (Bella Dvina-1 and Bella Dvina-2) are implemented jointly by organizations of Vitebsk Oblast and Latvia. All in all, the program includes 29 joint projects, the majority of them are still in progress. This includes the participation of travel companies in international exhibitions in Minsk, Riga and Vilnius, holding competitions, construction of museums, hospitals, and developing the infrastructure of border crossing points.

Oleg Matskevich also informed that new projects were launched, together with Latvian partners, within the framework of the Latvian-Lithuanian-Belarusian program for 2016-2020 for the further development of the tourism infrastructure, building sports rounds and the sites for camping near the architectural sites, enhancing business support centers, promoting energy saving technologies, and combating natural disasters.

The Vice Governor expressed the hope that the current Belarusian-Latvian meeting will give a new impetus to mutually beneficial cooperation, above all, between the regions, local authorities and entrepreneurs.