Lukashenko anticipates increased Russian funding for joint projects

MINSK. Oct 28 (Interfax) - Belarus anticipates an increase in funding for joint projects with Russia and is negotiating with the Russian government on this issue, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said during a meeting with Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov in Minsk on Monday.

"There are many projects, even more than we agreed on. There are more projects than the amount of loans Russia has provided [105 billion rubles for import substitution projects]. Perhaps Russia will be interested in our new projects and increase the funding. But this will depend on your negotiations [with Belarusian government representatives]," Lukashenko was quoted as saying by the BelTA state news agency.

Lukashenko also said that he hopes to overcome misunderstandings with Russia about the production of passenger cars. "At one time, we opened a new era in car manufacturing in Belarus. This is also a very important issue. I would like us to overcome those misunderstandings, or even what could be called some unspoken issues, related to import substitution for passenger cars, and that we could produce primarily Belarusian and Russian cars in our joint market," he said.

"It's no secret to anyone that we should protect our market," he said. "So that it doesn't end up the way it did with the westerners - they left and abandoned everything. The competencies and people are still here. We have enough raw materials and resources. We will produce and replace their products with our own," he said.

Belarusian ambassador in Moscow Alexander Rogozhnik said in mid-October that Belarus and Russia were preparing an additional pool of joint import substitution projects in high-tech areas. "We and the Russian Federation have already begun implementing 27 projects with funds from the Russian side in the amount of 105 billion rubles. These are innovation, import substitution and high-tech projects. Now an additional pool of seven projects has already been formed, including in aviation," he said.

"Currently, 70 billion [Russian] rubles of financing has been raised, but we're aiming to reach an equivalent amount, equal to the first loan of 105 billion [Russian rubles] and invest these resources in the development of high-tech manufacturing, so that the two countries achieve total self-sufficiency in the technological sense," he said.