The document was signed by the Chairman of the Minsk City Executive Committee Andrei Shorets and the Head of the Administration of the Urban Region of Ufa Irek Yalalov.
Ufa has become the 27 twin city of Minsk.
During the talks, the parties discussed a number of issues of bilateral cooperation. In particular, the guests were interested in the experience of Minsk in the sphere of transport, construction of housing, construction and operation of large sports facilities, housing and communal services.
"I hope this Memorandum will become a really valid document that will allow developing and strengthening mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields," A. Shorets said in an interview with journalists. "Working groups will be formed, specific activities will be defined," he added
Minsk is interested in the development of cooperation in the field of supplies to Ufa of city public transport, including electric buses.
"This is not our first visit to the Republic of Belarus and Minsk," Yalalov said. – "For five years we had been preparing to sign this agreement for which we had carried out a detailed and meticulous study of economic, cultural and social aspects of cooperation. On the example of Minsk we can see for ourselves a lot of interesting decisions in the field of urban planning, architecture, in matters of housing and communal services. We intend to develop cooperation between the industrial enterprises of Ufa and the industrial enterprises of the Belarusian capital. Ufa is also a developed industrial center, one of the 15 cities-millionaires of the Russian Federation, and by the volume of industrial production we are the second city, and, of course, we have many aspects for cooperation. We will also develop cooperation between Minsk and Ufa builders. My deputy, who heads the building complex, is an ethnic Belarusian."
According to Yalalov the first Belarusian villages on the territory of Bashkortostan appeared 250 years ago. The Belarusian Diaspora is widely represented in Ufa, and much attention is paid to the historical and cultural heritage of the Belarusian people.
There are many unifying aspects for twin cities. For example, on the basis of the "Minsk-Arena" complex the legendary hockey club of Ufa "Salavat Yulaev" is playing.
"There are several ice arenas in Ufa, and we are interested in the maintenance of such large sports complexes as "Minsk-Arena", explained the Head of the Administration of the Urban Region of Ufa. "We would like to know what can be done for the recoupment of capital investments, so that they are not a burden for the city budget and be profitable."
The Ufa delegation is also interested in the Minsk experience of the development of the tram and electric buses traffic.
"During my previous visit, I got acquainted with this topic in great detail and now we have concrete proposals for Belarusian partners," Yalalov said. "We are going to pay special attention to the development of modern types of public transport. We are planning to spend more than 22 billion rubles for the construction of modern light rail vehicles in Ufa," he continued.
Ufa will also continue cooperation with the Minsk "Amkodor".
"We are absolutely satisfied with your communal equipment in terms of price-quality ratio," emphasized the Head of the Ufa delegation. "It has proved itself well in the severe south-Ural climate," he added.
At the end of the meeting, the Heads of the two sister cities exchanged souvenirs.
I. Yalalov entered the Book of Honored Guests of the Minsk City Hall.
The program of the visit of the delegation of the Administration of the Urban Region of Ufa (the Republic of Bashkortostan) was very rich. On the morning of December 18, the guests visited the "Minsk Arena" complex, and in the afternoon they visited the traffic control and processing center of the state enterprise "Minsktrans", as well as the residential area of Novaya Borovaya.
Photo by Sergey Lukashov