OREANDA-NEWS. June 30, 2010. Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky and Prime Minister of Lithuania Andrius Kubilius took part in an opening ceremony of the OMA construction hypermarket in Minsk.

OMA hypermarket is a joint investment project of Belarus, Lithuania and Finland. The construction of the hypermarket started in autumn 2009. Finnish corporation Kesko and its Lithuanian partner, Senukai, have played the role of strategic partners of the Belarusian company OMA, the national largest retailer of construction materials, instruments and household goods. The investment value of the hypermarket is EUR9.5 million including designing, construction and equipment.

The area of the trading facility totals 8600 square meters, with the selling space of more than 5500 square meters. The hypermarket features over 45,000 descriptions of goods.

The development program of the Belarusian OMA retail network envisages the construction of several modern trading facilities through 2015. Foreign partners will assist OMA in increasing retail trade within the next three years.

Belarusian and Lithuanian businessmen have good cooperation prospects, Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius said as he attended the opening ceremony of the OMA construction hypermarket in Minsk.

“It is great that Lithuanian investments come to Belarus at a time when we have started coming out from the crisis. These investments show that the crisis is over, and we are looking to the future where a lot depends on how the businessmen of Belarus and Lithuania will use the opportunity and benefit from the cooperation in such conditions,” the Lithuanian Prime Minister said.

“Our business is ready to create new jobs in Belarus to help the country follow the modernization path,” he stressed.

According to Andrius Kubilius, such projects as the opening of this construction hypermarket will attract investments from other European countries.

Lithuania investors are not going to stop on the trade industry, Andrius Kubilius said. There are good opportunities to develop bilateral cooperation in transit, power engineering, developing alternative transit routes for oil products and gas, the Lithuanian Prime Minister said.

Lithuania is ready to share its experience in nuclear energy with Belarus, Prime Minister of Lithuania Andrius Kubilius told.

“We have the experience. We have got plans and I think we can make good progress here,” Andrius Kubilius said.

Belarus and Lithuania may implement a joint project on the construction of a gas dilution plant in the port of Klaipeda, Belarusian Premier Sergei Sidorsky told media.

According to Sergei Sidorsky, Belarus has long been seeking alternative ways for energy supplies. Not long ago the country coordinated oil supplies from Venezuela. Belarus has been cooperating with Iran in the area. “We are taking every effort to develop the Jofeir deposit and bring oil to Belarus,” the Prime Minister said.

“Belarus views the construction of a gas dilution plant as one of its energy strategies. We have been coordinating this project with our Lithuanian colleagues. There are two or three more alternative variants, but Belarus, however, is most interested in the project with Lithuania. The government of Lithuania has been developing the similar project. We can unite our financial resources to build up a gas dilution plant in the port of Klaipeda and deliver its product via Lithuania. This is a short route – 285 kilometers of pipeline. These issues will be discussed today. By uniting our efforts we will be able to implement such a project,” he said.

According to Sergei Sidorsky, this is a profitable and efficient project that will provide alternative energy supplies to Belarus. “Today we are supposed to discuss the project. Probably we will start its implementation in the near future,” the Belarusian Prime Minister stressed.

High-speed train service will connect Minsk and Vilnius, Sergei Sidorsky told reporters.

“We intend to appeal to the European Union to launch the high-speed train service between Minsk and Vilnius,” Sergei Sidorsky said.

The Prime Minister noted that in 2010 Belarus and Lithuania preserved the dynamics of the foreign trade cooperation despite of the economic recession caused by the global financial crisis. In January-April 2010 the trade between Belarus and Lithuania increased by 38.6% as against the same period last year. Both the countries actively develop the investment cooperation and the cooperation in transit and transportation business. In Q1 2010, Belarus increased cargo transshipment via the Klaipeda port up to 2 million tonnes, up 90% compared with the same period a year before.

Sergei Sidorsky reminded that the prime ministers of Belarus and Lithuania met in Vilnius two months ago. Then the sides discussed the development of economic and investment cooperation including the cooperation in energy, transit and transport industries. The sides shared opinions concerning the ways of overcoming consequences of the global financial crisis.

On 20 May 2010, the Belarusian President met with a group of Lithuanian businessmen who implement or intend to implement projects in Belarus. During that meeting both the sides stated serious intentions to develop economic cooperation.

The 6th International Belarusian-Lithuanian Economic Forum that was held in Lida and Grodno this year, the construction of a transport and logistics center in the Volozhin Region, a visit of Lithuanian towns’ mayors to Belarusian Lida, a session of the Belarus-Lithuania Business Cooperation Council and the Belarusian-Lithuanian forum of the light industry companies in Zhodino have intensified the bilateral cooperation significantly. The opening of the OMA construction hypermarket in Minsk is one more example of the mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries.