Belarus, Russia to develop railroad infrastructure to Baltic Sea ports - Union State secretary

MINSK. Feb 2 (Interfax) - Belarus and Russia will jointly develop the railroad infrastructure to Russian ports in the Baltic Sea, State Secretary of the Russia-Belarus Union State Dmitry Mezentsev said.

"Over 14 million tonnes of freight were transported from Belarus to Russia last year, including 12.9 million tonnes destined for northwestern Russia. Naturally, a lot is being done to improve the infrastructure of Russian ports in the Baltic Sea and farther into the northwest to receive freight from Belarus," the Belarusian state-run news agency BelTA quoted Mezentsev as saying.

The Belarusian and Russian governments were given specific instructions on developing railroad infrastructure at a meeting of the Supreme State Council of the Russia-Belarus Union State on January 29, Mezentsev said. "The work will be done together. Obviously, major investment will be required to develop the infrastructure. Improving the railroads and their throughput will require funds, which were probably not planned for before," he said.

"Now the task has been set, and the presidents took an active part in the discussion and gave specific instructions to ministries, agencies, and the governments as a whole," Mezentsev said.