The Russian region is ready to buy Belarusian equipment and work with construction companies, while Belarus can study the Russian experience in creating an education and tourism strategy.
If you look at a specific Russian region through the prism of Belarusian-Russian integration, you can learn a lot of interesting things. For example, that Belarus supplies potato seeds from Russia. And the Russians want not only to buy Belarusian products or agricultural equipment, but to study the experience of improving small towns, hire Belarusian builders, and can also share their experience in the development of education and tourism. Sputnik journalist Inna Grishuk visited Veliky Novgorod and talked with Governor of the Novgorod Region Andrey Nikitin about mutual interests and prospects for cooperation.
About Novgorod potatoes for Belarus
The conversation began with an unexpected discovery. It turned out that the Novgorod region supplies elite potato seeds to Belarus. The fact is that this Russian region is the center of meristem cloning of potatoes. In laboratories, under special conditions, plants are grown in vitro, and from them – mini-tubers. This is the elite seeds of Russian selection.
Governor of the Novgorod region Andrey Nikitin – Sputnik Belarus, 1920, 08/12/2022
Governor of the Novgorod Region Andrey Nikitin
© Sputnik / Vadim Smirnov
So, in 2021, the Novgorod region produced more than 440 thousand mini-tubers of potatoes, and the share of potato seeds of domestic selection in the region was 34 percent, which is about four times more than the average for Russia.
“This is a potato that is genetically pure, seed potatoes. Tubers grow from it, which are used to produce industrial potatoes. We supply these potatoes to Belarus. And we have very good cooperation with the Belarusian Academy of Sciences here. This is also scientific work,” said the governor, answering the question about the areas in which the most active cooperation is taking place.
According to him, there is active interaction and exchange of technologies in the field of agriculture. The Novgorod Region buys pedigree cattle from Belarus. From the traditional one, local farmers choose Belarusian agricultural machinery.
“Before the sanctions, Belarusian equipment was purchased, and now it will happen even more actively. How many countries do we have that have preserved good quality engineering? Compare with Ukraine, everything was sold there, destroyed, only the agricultural sector remained. They exported grain. And I think that Belarusian equipment has very good prospects. Somewhere even we should learn from Belarusian colleagues in the organization of production,” Nikitin said.
