Governor Alexey Ostrovskiy took part in the meeting with the President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko

Today in Minsk the first Forum of the regions of Belarus and Russia is being held. The Forum is chaired by the Chairman of the Federation Council of Russia Valentina Matviyenko and the chairman of the National Assembly of Belarus Anatoly Rubinov. Smolensk region is represented by Governor Alexey Ostrovskiy.

The Forum participants, representing the state authorities and business community of the Russian and Belarusian regions, have comprehensively discussed the expansion of direct contacts between the regions and companies of the two countries. The issue of effective interaction of the agro-industrial complexes of Russia and Belarus has also been considered. Both sides expressed the unanimous opinion that the development of the agro-industrial complex is an essential condition of the food security of the Union State.

Commenting on the results of the Forum, Governor Alexey Ostrovskiy said: "The first Forum of the regions of Russia and the Republic of Belarus is very important and essential for our region. Our region is extremely interested in intensifying cooperation with the regions of the Republic of Belarus, and therefore the dialogue that I had with the leaders of the Belarusian regions lets us hope that we will soon see real results of our joint work.

Another major aspect of the work here was the meeting with the President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Grigorievich Lukashenko. At this meeting, on behalf of the people of Smolensk region, I raised two questions, which are important for our region. Firstly, I asked the President of Belarus for orders, which he immediately, in my presence, gave the relative ministers and heads of the territories, on joint agro-industrial activities in Smolensk region. We expect to receive Belarusian investments, to jointly cultivate the Smolensk land and produce products profitable for the people of Smolensk region.

The second issue is the work of our two Auto-Aggregate plants. I addressed the President of the Republic of Belarus with the issue of our plants getting the opportunity of working to the full extend with the companies from Belarus and supplying them with goods they need. This will allow us to keep jobs, maintain the full production cycle at the companies. The President of Belarus set the relative tasks, and I hope that we can soon see the results. The Administration of the region has taken the steps that had to be taken. Now the ball is in the Belorussian court".