From June 30 to July 4, 2015, the delegation of Murmansk paid an official visit to the twin city Minsk, the largest economic and industrial center.
The history of kinship between Murmansk and Minsk began last year: on August 21, 2014, an agreement was signed to establish twinning ties.
The consolidation of contacts between Murmansk and Minsk is historically justified. Belarusians took part in the construction of the railway, which later connected Petrozavodsk and Romanov-on-Murman in 1914-1916, in Soviet times, many served in our region, defended Murmansk in the Great Patriotic War, took part in the restoration of the city and the development of the Northern Sea Route
Today, the Murmansk region ranks seventh among Russian regions in terms of the number of Belarusians living here: there are about 12 thousand of them on the Kola Peninsula. In Murmansk, according to the 2010 census, slightly less than 2% of the population (about 5,000 people) were Belarusians, ranking third in terms of ethnic composition of the population.
There are also public organizations of Belarusians in the Murmansk region. In 1999, an association of Belarusians of the Murmansk region "Radzima" ("Motherland") was created in our region.
“Today the friendly republic is ready to offer Murmansk agricultural products, light industry goods, and specialized road equipment,” said Irina Kanash, chairman of the Economic Development Committee of Murmansk city Administration. – Last year, the city has already received buses from the Minsk Automobile Plant.
During the visit, the delegates met with the Deputy Chairman of the Minsk City Executive Committee Igor Karpenko. The parties discussed the prospects for cooperation and a plan of joint activities in the field of education, culture and sports.
– The twinning vector creates a solid foundation for the development of relations between countries, because it allows us to work out all the details and take into account the specifics and capabilities of a particular region. It is symbolic that the visit took place on the eve of the national holiday – the Independence Day of the Republic of Belarus, – said Deputy Chairman of the Minsk City Executive Committee Igor Karpenko.
Representatives of the polar capital held a number of working meetings in various areas of cooperation. They visited the leading enterprise for the production of road-building, municipal, snow-removing and other special machinery and equipment OJSC "AMKODOR" and the automobile plant "MAZ". During the meeting, the prospects for cooperation were discussed, the possibility of acquiring new road equipment was considered.
Another meeting took place at the 2nd City Clinical Hospital, the oldest medical institution in Minsk. Note that in the capital of Belarus, as in Murmansk, the municipality is responsible for the health sector. Today, the health of the inhabitants of Minsk is protected not only by advanced technologies, but also by the highly qualified staff of the hospital, which seeks to preserve the historical traditions laid down during the existence of the institution.
The members of the delegation got acquainted with the work of the youth business incubator of the city of Minsk.
The institution is a support center for small and medium-sized businesses at the initial stage of their development. Here, young entrepreneurs can lease modern office space in the city center on preferential terms. On the basis of the center, there is a conference area for holding events of various formats: seminars, trainings, lectures, business meetings. Also, specialists of the social service can get primary advice on the creation of enterprises, business planning, registration of individual entrepreneurs and legal entities. Outsourced accountants of the youth business incubator provide accounting services.
During the meeting, successful young businessmen from Minsk presented their projects to the participants of Murmansk delegation. The parties agreed to organize joint fairs and exhibitions for entrepreneurs in Minsk and Murmansk.
On the eve of the Republic of Belarus Day, Murmansk delegates honored the memory of millions of those killed and laid flowers at the Victory Monument. The majestic monument to the soldiers of the Red Army and partisans who died during the Second World War is installed in the very center of Minsk on Victory Square.
