President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko was presented with promising areas of cooperation with Russia

On the development of bilateral relations between the countries, the head of state was informed during his visit to the exhibition of the latest Russian unmanned aerial systems, reports BELTA correspondent.

The report was presented to Alexander Lukashenko by the so-called Kuty-Oreshkin group (the head of the Administration of the President of Belarus Dmitry Kuty and the deputy head of the Administration of the President of Russia Maxim Oreshkin). Back in 2018, while holding the positions of ministers of economy, they headed a working group on the integration of Belarus and Russia and have since been overseeing the development of comprehensive ties between the countries.

— Dmitry Nikolaevich and I were tasked with working on promising areas. It is clear that our history of relations is long, the economies are integrated, and there is a large volume of trade. We looked primarily from the perspective of criteria of novelty, innovation, technological advancement, and to ensure a certain breakthrough character. We selected 10 points from which we want to start this work, — said Maxim Oreshkin.

Unmanned Aerial Systems

Among the promising areas of cooperation, Maxim Oreshkin first mentioned the development of unmanned aerial systems. According to him, their implementation could radically change many sectors of the economy, including logistics, agriculture, territorial monitoring, and energy.

— This is not just the production of drones. These are management systems, control systems, security issues, — said the deputy head of the Administration of the President of Russia. — It would be very right to synchronize our actions so that we work in a unified regular space. This will provide greater efficiency.

Platform Economy

Digital platforms allow for increasing direct supplies of Belarusian goods to Russian and adjacent markets. For example, sales of domestic products through the Wildberries ecosystem alone reached Br2.4 billion. The turnover in the domestic market is Br3.5 billion.

— Any Belarusian producers can immediately access the entire Russian market through platform solutions, to any point. They do not need to think about logistics, about how to reach a specific buyer. They need to make a quality product and offer it to the consumer, — noted Maxim Oreshkin.

Through platform solutions, Belarusian producers will also be able to receive preferential financing, which will allow them to invest in production and scale up supplies to the Russian market.

The development of the platform economy requires new infrastructure. This, in turn, requires a large volume of investments. In Belarus, for example, new logistics centers will appear. The possibility of building a large data processing center is being considered.

— Colleagues are coming in not with some local supply solution, but with a systemic solution for building logistics at a new level, — emphasized the deputy head of the Administration of the President. — In my opinion, this has generally had a significant effect on the economy of Russia. We have very low unemployment — 2.3%. One of the reasons is precisely new solutions. A producer from a small ulus in Yakutia, for example, could not previously enter the Moscow market: he had to deliver the goods there, find a place for sale. And now none of this needs to be done. The product is produced — if it is interesting to the consumer, it is placed on the digital platform, and people ordered it. The platform already takes care of logistics. Therefore, small and medium producers are growing very actively across the country.

Automobile Tourism

Maxim Oreshkin shared that he managed to visit different cities, get acquainted with Belarusian attractions, and he learned how interesting and rich Belarusian history is.

— Very interesting. Very friendly people. Very good service. It is very interesting to walk around, to see all this, — said the deputy head of the Administration of the President of Russia.

He reminded that new highways have been built in his country, and now all of Russia up to the Ural Mountains can come to Belarus.

— There is definitely something to see here. A country with a very rich history, — said Maxim Oreshkin.

— Yes, and it needs to be seen, — emphasized Alexander Lukashenko.

— A very interesting, rich past and a cool present. People need to travel more. And for this, conditions need to be created, — added Maxim Oreshkin.

In 2024, the tourist flow between Belarus and Russia amounted to 5 million people, with an average duration of trips of about 4-5 days. The countries intend to systematize tourist routes, integrate digital services, and develop technical solutions that would make the journey of car travelers more convenient and enjoyable.

Development of Railway Communication

The construction of high-speed railway lines will help not only increase tourist flows but also enhance the economic interconnection of the two countries. Currently, the journey between Minsk and Moscow by train takes more than eight hours. Thanks to the high-speed rail, it can be reduced to three.

— This is literally the first question on our agenda with Putin. I constantly push him: why build far away — there is a road, we need to go in this direction. And not to Minsk, but to Brest. And this will be soon. He supports me in this regard, — said the President.

Industrial Robots

The use of these technologies will contribute to increasing labor productivity. In conditions of labor resource shortages, this is especially important.

— It would be great to involve Belarusian producers and work together. Belarus is a leader in machine engineering, all the competencies are there for this. We need to engage in this, — believes Maxim Oreshkin.

Data Economy

Among the possible areas of cooperation in the field of data economy are the creation and implementation of digital platforms and standards, the construction of data centers with possible use of nuclear energy for their provision, the creation of joint research centers in the field of artificial intelligence, and the harmonization of legislation.

— Here, it seems to me, we are not quite doing enough. We need closer interaction both in the scientific field and in training personnel and in research. We need to take more active steps forward, — said the deputy head of the Administration of the President of Russia.

Implementation of Digital Currencies

In Belarus, the Concept of the Digital Belarusian Ruble has been adopted, which has developed a roadmap for its implementation by 2026. Russian banks, in turn, are participating in the development of their platform.

— We need to synchronize and work together so that the interconnection between the digital Belarusian and digital Russian rubles is established at the proper level, — said Maxim Oreshkin.

Digitalization of Education and Healthcare

In medicine, it is proposed to create a unified digital platform with the centralization of access for medical institutions to diagnostic services based on AI. This will save doctors' labor, reduce financial costs, and the share of erroneous diagnoses. The Moscow experience — the "MosMedAI" platform — is proposed as a basis.

Moscow initiatives can also be extended to the field of education. For example, the "Moscow Electronic School" platform combines the functionality of a journal, diary, database library, and enrollment system.

In-depth Training of Engineering Personnel

Belarus and Russia could also create a joint system for in-depth training of engineering personnel. Moreover, cooperation in the field of education between the countries has been developing for a long time.

The deepening of partnerships between technological universities will contribute to the creation of advanced engineering schools, the development of programs to enhance the academic mobility of students, scientific and pedagogical staff. All this will help raise the training of engineering personnel to a new level.

And one more area of bilateral interaction is cooperation with the Russian Agency for Strategic Initiatives and the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, which are engaged in supporting and implementing projects in business, social sphere, education, science, and technology.