OREANDA-NEWS. July 22, 2009. Gomel will host a meeting of the heads of the border regions of Belarus and Ukraine, Belarusian Embassy in Ukraine announced.

The sides will discuss the development of the Belarusian-Ukrainian border cooperation, expansion of the interregional economic ties and prospects of the further cooperation in trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian areas.

The delegation of representatives of the Gomel and Brest oblasts will be chaired by First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko. The delegations of the Kiev, Chernigov, Zhitomir, Rovno and Volyn oblasts will be chaired by First Vice-Premier of Ukraine Alexander Turchinov. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Belarus to Ukraine Valentin Velichko will take part in the meeting as well.

The basis of the bilateral relations between Belarus and Ukraine is the stable and dynamic development of the trade and economic cooperation. In 2008, the trade between the two countries made up around \\$5 billion.

The Intergovernmental Belarusian-Ukrainian Commission for Trade and Economic Cooperation chaired by First Vice-Premiers of Belarus and Ukraine Vladimir Semashko and Alexander Turchinov coordinates the activity in this area.