MINSK, August 16 (Itar-Tass) —— Belarus and Russia should actively set up big transnational corporations, Mikhail Myasnikovich, the Belarussian prime minister, said on Tuesday at the meeting with Igor Zyuzin, the chairman of the board of directors of Russia’s Mechel JSC.
“We, the Russians and the Belarussians, have learned how to trade, but this, perhaps, is not enough now,” Myasnikovich said. “We must progress to investment, to a complete technological cycle, and set up self-sufficient transnational corporations that would hold serious positions on the world markets,” he said.
Myasnikovich believes that Belarussian and Russian companies, supplementing one another, could achieve a better effect. “It is realistic – to set up big transnational corporations so as not to limit ourselves to trade. We must look to future,” he said.
Regarding prospects for cooperation with Mechel, the Belarussian premier said that “having appropriate intellectual, industrial and raw material potential, we can effectively operate jointly on the world markets.” He said mining, energy, metallurgy and transport could be the areas of joint activity.
Myasnikovich acknowledged with regret that the initial contacts of Minsk with Mechel “did not develop.” So he suggested “to make a new start” on cooperation. The Belarussian premier holds that such cooperation can be effective, particularly in conditions when the Common Economic Space of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia is now being formed.