Region

Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodship of Poland, Mogilev oblast to set up regional cooperation council

The Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodship of Poland is interested in expanding cooperation with regions of Belarus, Consul General of Belarus in Gdansk Ruslan Yesin told BelTA after visiting Torun, the administrative capital of the voivodship. While in Torun, the Belarusian diplomat met with voivodship marshal Piotr Calbecki as well as representatives of the voivodship administration in charge of economy, culture and sports affairs. Piotr Calbecki confirmed the interest in expanding contacts with the partnering region in Belarus — the Mogilev Oblast. With a view to specifying the cooperation the parties discussed the possibility of setting up a Regional Cooperation Council, which may have working parties for trade, investments, innovations and tourism. The council creation will be discussed during a visit of the delegation of official and business circles of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodship to the IV international investment forum Mogilev Oblast — Open Cooperation Territory. The forum is supposed to take place in Mogilev on October 9-10, 2008. The Polish side appreciated the proposal to hold a regional Belarusian-Pomorskie economic forum, with the focus made on attracting regional investors to implementing projects in Belarus, using the potential of the Polish region for creating a distribution network for Belarusian companies. First of all, the creation of dealership networks and Belarusian goods departments in major shopping centres was discussed. The Pomorskie special economic zone is located near Torun. The zone specialises in attracting foreign companies to producing electronics and developing IT projects. Companies from Germany, the USA, Japan and other countries successfully operate in the zone. According to Ruslan Yesin, practices of the Pomorskie economic zone can be borrowed by Belarusian free economic zones. “It is important to establish direct contacts between Belarusian free economic zones and partners in Polish regions for attracting investors and innovation technologies. At present FEZ Vitebsk is in negotiations for cooperation with the Pomorskie special economic zone,” said the diplomat. The Consul General also remarked, contacts between economic agents are being established as part of the cooperation agreement signed by FEZ Gomel-Raton and the Kostrzyn-Slubice Special Economic Zone. Ruslan Yesin and Piotr Calbecki also discussed matters related to cooperation in culture. In particular, the arranging of Mogilev Oblast Culture Days in the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodship was considered.

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