MINSK, April 04, /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s Kaluga region and Belarus have good prospects for a dramatic growth of mutual trade and the implementation of joint investment projects, Kaluga region governor Anatoly Artamonov said on Friday at a meeting with Belarusian Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich in Minsk.

“We should increase the volume of cooperation by several times,” he said. “We can have a trade turnover of three billion U.S. dollars. Of course, it cannot happen overnight. It will take three to five years, but it is a realistic goal.”

The Belarusian prime minister also noted the positive dynamics of trade. “In the past three years, we have been adding about 150 million U.S. dollars a year,” he said. “Last year, our trade turnover was 565 million U.S. dollars.” Myasnikovich suggested a detailed discussion of issues of exports of passenger vehicles manufactured by the Minsk automotive plant to the Kaluga region and participation of Belarusian builders in the implementation of the housing construction programme in the Russian region. “The first multi-apartment house built by Belarusian builders will be commissioned in May,” he said. “We want to build a Belarusian quarter with a kindergarten and a water park in your region.”

Apart from that, the Belarusian prime minister called to pay more attention to industrial cooperation. The Kaluga region governor shared this idea, adding that the development of processing industries was a key task for both Russia and Belarus.