OREANDA-NEWS. Issues of establishing and development of cooperation between Karelia and Lithuania in the sphere of agriculture were discussed on July, 2 at the meeting of Head of Karelia Alexander Khudilainen with the delegation of the Republic of Lithuania led by Minister of Agriculture of Lithuania Virgilijus Jukna that is on a visit to our republic. Oleg Gromov, First Deputy Head of the Republic of Karelia for Economic Policy, Valentin Chmil, Deputy Head of the Republic of Karelia and Minister of Economic Development of the Republic of Karelia, and Grigory Manuilov, Minister of Agriculture, Fish and Hunting Industry of the Republic of Karelia, took part in the meeting.

Alexander Khudilainen has told the guests about the agricultural sector of the republic. He has mentioned that in recent years volumes of agricultural production in of Karelia reduced, and now the republic is taking measures to revive the branch and to increase the share of production of the agricultural sector in total regional product, as today it makes 8.9%.

The Government of Karelia pays special attention to development and performance of measures on creation of favorable investment climate in the sphere of agriculture.

• Investors are coming to the agricultural sector of Karelia, especially to the sphere of dairy cattle-breeding, pig-farming, compound feed industry. Considering your successes, especially in the field of dairy cattle-breeding, we have subjects for discussion, - Alexander Khudilainen said.

According to the Head of the region, cooperation between the parties is also possible in the branch of commodity trout production and farming. Today it is one of successful directions in agriculture of Karelia. More than 70% of Russian commodity trout is of Karelian origin. In 2012 fish-breeding farms of the republic have raised more than 17 thousand tons of fish. In the years to come it is planned to increase these volumes up to 30 thousand tons.

Minister of Agriculture of Lithuania Virgilijus Jukna has told that today the republic is focused on development of cattle-breeding, as production of milk, meat, pig-breeding, poultry farming are traditionally developed here. “Both parties will benefit economically from development of agriculture and cooperation in this area,” - the Minister considers.

Besides agriculture, to one of the spheres for cooperation between the parties may be rural tourism which is very popular and well-developed in Lithuania today.

• Your experience in this area will be useful and interesting to our republic, and we shall use your best practice. The zest that Karelia has is perhaps hard to find in Russia, and we need to make use of it, - Head of Karelia Alexander Khudilainen said.

During the meeting the offer was made to state possible spheres of cooperation for Karelia and Lithuania and to make a Protocol of intentions on cooperation.

Within the scope of the visit the delegation of Lithuania will make several trips to a number of agricultural enterprises of the republic.