“If we’re talking about the Riga economy, there has been a twofold increase in the number of tourists coming here from Belarus in the past two years, which is a great positive trend,” said Riga’s elected City Council chairman.
“And we have agreed that we could open up the so-called Riga Corners, special promotional stands at the Minsk Central Market and other shopping centers. They, following the principle of parity, would like a similar arrangement at the Riga Central Market, which could be advantageous for Riga consumers looking for a greater selection of goods,” Ušakovs added.
“But the technical work is already proceeding to get the first of these open in Minsk and in light of the fact that in Moscow sanctions have logically put a stop to other measures like this, we’ll try to develop things in other directions. We should have the first Riga Yard up in Minsk by summertime,” he said.
Last week upon announcing the cooperation deal inked between the two cities, Ušakovs said that “it isn’t our goal to compete with Belarus goods, but rather to offer niche products to enrich our consumers’ choices. And we’re convinced that there will be broad prospects for Belarus businesses to cooperate with the Free Port of Riga,” he said in an official release.
On April 8 Ušakovs and Minsk mayor Andrey Shorets signed a deal covering 2015-2017 to promote mutual tourism and business ties, as well as local government sharing of experience and best-practices in municipal administration.
