The delegation of the Republic of Belarus led by Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko visited the Astrakhan region, reports the press service of the special economic zone (SEZ) “Lotus”.

At a meeting with the governor of the region, Igor Babushkin, the parties discussed the prospects for cooperation, including the development of cargo transportation along the North-South ITC and the localization of production in the Lotus SEZ.

It is noted that representatives of the Belarusian side are interested in increasing cargo transportation through Astrakhan port facilities.

At the same time, the Ambassador of the Republic of Belarus to the Russian Federation Dmitry Krutoy noted the need to find an effective average tariff for the delivery of goods from Belarus to Astrakhan, and then to Iran and, possibly, to India via the North-South ITC.

General Director of SEZ Lotos JSC Sergei Milushkin spoke about the development of a port SEZ, with the launch of the first stage of which it will be possible to transship, including container cargo from Belarus.

According to S. Milushkin, there are plans to begin the first trial transportation of containers as soon as the checkpoint is launched in the spring of this year. “In parallel with logistics companies, a competitive tariff for the North-South ITC sea route is being worked out,” he clarified. – We have been cooperating with Belarusian partners for a long time and we see prospects both in the supply of Belarusian products through the port SEZ to the Caspian countries and even in India, and in the localization of production on the territory of the Lotus SEZ.

“We are ready to test trial transportation of goods from Belarus along the trans-Caspian route from the spring of this year, and also want to invite Belarusian partners to consider participation in the projects of the second stage of the port SEZ - the development of a new cargo area near the Ilmen Zaburunny, with a capacity of more than 20 million tons of cargo,” - he added.