Vitebsk, Italy’s Brescia agree to cooperate in economic and social areas

VITEBSK, 20 October (BelTA) – Vitebsk and the Italian city of Brescia plan to develop cooperation in trade, economic and socio-cultural areas. A preliminary agreement on this was reached in the course of a visit of a Vitebsk Oblast delegation to the Brescia province of Italy on October 11-15, BelTA learnt from the Vitebsk Office of the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. During the talks the representatives of the Belarusian and Italian regions noted that Vitebsk and Brescia have a great potential for cooperation in cultural and social areas, development of tourism contacts, cooperation between enterprises. This creates an interesting and mutually beneficial basis of future cooperation, and the signing of an agreement between the cities can become an impetus to this cooperation. Representatives of the Vitebsk oblast executive committee and the Brescia prefecture agreed to work through this issue and sign the document in the first half of 2011 during a planned return visit of the Italian delegation to Vitebsk. The main theme of the visit of the Belarusian delegation was the presentation of economic opportunities of Vitebsk and Vitebsk Oblast, and the discussion of potential areas of cooperation between businesses, cities and regions. The delegation included officials of the regional authorities, representatives of business community interested in developing business contacts with Italian companies in various fields. The Belarusian delegation met with the heads of the prefecture and province, representatives of the Lombardy region, which province of Brescia makes part of. The business part of the visit featured business meetings between representatives of Vitebsk and Italian enterprises organized by the chambers of commerce and industry of the cities of Mantua and Brescia. Following the talks the sides signed an agreement on cooperation between the Vitebsk Office of the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Central European Chambers of Commerce Initiative (CECCI), which will promote an enabling environment for the search of business partners, establishment of contacts between Belarusian and Italian companies, expansion of regional economic cooperation between the two countries. Preliminary agreements were reached on cooperation in tourism. Vitebsk Oblast is interested in implementing Italian technology in the municipal infrastructure of cities and towns of Vitebsk Oblast, and also in the technology to process by-products of the manufacturing industry into energy resources. Executives of enterprises got familiarized with the possibilities of involving Italian partners in the projects to upgrade and retool production facilities. The visit was organized by the Vitebsk oblast executive committee, the Vitebsk Office of the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Central European Chambers of Commerce Initiative (CECCI). The province of Brescia is located in northern Italy, the area of more than 4,700 square kilometers; population is more than 1.1 million people. The region specializes in agriculture (olives and olive oil, wine), the production of vehicles, handling equipment, steel and textile industries, energy, construction materials, arms production.

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