Trade, industry and common memory: what the delegation of St. Petersburg came to Brest region

The delegation of St. Petersburg headed by Governor Alexander Beglov is on a visit to the Brest region. Over the five-year period, trade between the regions increased 2.5 times, and in January-August 2026 increased by 10.6%. Exports of Brest region enterprises to St. Petersburg for eight months added 16.8%. Further development of trade relations, industrial cooperation and humanitarian cooperation was discussed on October 28 at a meeting of Alexander Beglov with Chairman of the Brest Regional Executive Committee Peter Parkhomchik.

Economic ties between the Brest region and St. Petersburg continue to strengthen. By the end of 2025, the export of enterprises of the region to the city on the Neva River increased by 20.8%. Growth continues this year: in January-August, deliveries added 16.8% to the same period last year.

Cooperation is developing against the background of strengthening ties of Brest region with Russia as a whole. Over the past five years, the region’s trade with the Russian Federation has doubled, and by the end of 2025 it has grown by more than 22%.

- Over the five-year period, the trade turnover of the Brest region and St. Petersburg increased two and a half times. In January-August of this year, mutual trade increased by another 10.6%, and our exports by 16.8%. This is a good basis for further work, but I am confident that the potential of our regions allows us to achieve more. We consider this meeting as a new point of growth of our relations. We hope to strengthen existing ties and identify new promising areas – not only to increase supplies, but also to develop industrial cooperation, said Petr Parkhomchik, Chairman of the Brest Regional Executive Committee.

Alexander Beglov confirmed the interest of St. Petersburg in expanding cooperation.

- We have outlined plans in a number of areas: agricultural products and industry. The first batches of products under our agreements have already arrived in St. Petersburg. Belarusian products are liked by the residents of our city: people appreciate their taste and quality. We are therefore interested in continuing this work. But there is a completely new area that we want to develop together – shipbuilding. We will see how to attract enterprises of the Brest region to our large projects, what opportunities there are for this, the Governor of St. Petersburg said.

An important part of the visit was the memorial program. The delegation of St. Petersburg visited the memorial complex “Brest Hero Fortress”. Together with the leadership of the region and the city, the guests laid flowers at the Eternal Flame and the memorial plate of the hero city of Leningrad, honored the memory of the victims with a minute of silence. The delegation got acquainted with the history of the memorial, visited St. Nicholas Garrison Cathedral. The fortress also hosted a meeting with a resident of besieged Leningrad.

At the Garrison Cemetery, members of the delegation laid wreaths to the Central Monument and flowers to the slab in memory of the Leningraders who died during the defense and defense of Brest land.

The program continued at the Youth Patriotic Center. The guests got acquainted with the conditions of training and living of pupils, examined the educational buildings and simulators.

Speaking about humanitarian cooperation, Alexander Beglov stressed the importance of direct ties between regions and youth exchanges:

- We are jointly fulfilling the instructions of our presidents: we are developing not only vertical but also horizontal ties. Regions should be friends, exchange experiences and delegations. It is especially important that our younger generation travel to each other, get acquainted, communicate. If we do not deal with youth today, there will be no future. Therefore, special attention should be paid to this area. It is important for us not only to share our own experience, but also to adopt the experience of our Belarusian colleagues, including in patriotic education.

The cultural program began on October 27 with the concert “From St. Petersburg with Love” at the Brest Academic Drama Theatre. The audience was presented by St. Petersburg collectives and soloists. The concert was attended by the leaders of the two regions.

For the second half of October 28, the program provides for a visit to the Belovezhskaya Forest. On October 29, the delegation will get acquainted with the work of enterprises of the Brest region, and also visit the Kobrin Military Historical Museum named after A. V. Suvorov.

KSTATI

On October 27, before arriving in Brest region, Alexander Beglov met with President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko. The Head of State presented the Order of Honor to the Governor of St. Petersburg for his significant personal contribution to the development of trade, economic and cultural ties, strengthening international cooperation between Belarus and Russia.