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Russia’s Uni Milk to build dairy in Shklov region

The Russian investment company Uni Milk (Moscow) jointly with Swiss banks is going to put large investments in the dairy industry of Belarus, BelTA learnt from Glafira Yermakovich, the deputy head of the foodstuffs department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Foodstuffs.

Glafira Yermakovich briefed that the two sides had signed a frame agreement according to which Russian investments would be attracted within the following several years. The implementation of the project will start in 2008. Uni Milk expressed readiness to construct a dairy in the Shklov region of the Mogilev oblast.

The document envisages the construction of new dairies and cheese-making plants, upgrading of the plants in other regions of the country. “We are interested in putting investments not only in the processing industry but also in cattle-breeding,” said the representative of the Ministry of Agriculture and Foodstuffs.

The Belarusian side and the investors reached an agreement to put funds in the upgrading and construction of new dairy farms fitted with advanced equipment and milking parlors.

Agricultural producers, the participants of the projects, will have to provide processing companies with high-quality feedstock. 

According to Mikhail Saveliev, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Foodstuffs, Russian investors are ready to invest in the cattle-breeding industry of Belarus as it sees progress in development and provides high-quality products. It will take four years to implement the project on technical upgrading of Belarus’ dairy sector. “The volume of investments and a list of companies will be defined at the second session of the working group in the near future. Yet, the information is closed. The major goal is to increase the amount of cattle-breeding production and its exports outside Belarus,” Mikhail Saveliev underlined.