In January-July this year the trade turnover between Belarus and Lithuania reached $900 million and is expected to exceed $1 billion by the end of the year, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Lithuania to Belarus Edminas Bagdonas stated during a meeting with Governor of Mogilev oblast where he is staying on a working visit. The ambassador noted that the bilateral relations have been rapidly developing. A vivid example to that is cooperation with Mogilev oblast which turnover with Lithuania in January-July 2007 tripled as compared with the same time last year. According to the diplomat, there is still a big reserve for developing economic, scientific and cultural relations. According to the ambassador, this is his first visit to Mogilev oblast, in the near future he plans to come to the region again with specific offers on investment, banking and tourism. In turn, chairman of the Mogilev oblast executive committee Boris Batura expressed interest in further development and strengthening of mutually beneficial cooperation with Lithuania. “We want Lithuanian businessmen pay more attention to our region and invest in projects on setting up production facilities here as Mogilev oblast can be a gateway to the Russian market since it borders on the Russian Federation,” he stressed. Edminas Bagdonas visited a Lithuanian settlement in the village of Malkovka of the Mstislavl region. According to the foreign economic department of the Mogilev oblast executive committee, Lithuania is one of the major trade partners of Mogilev oblast among countries outside the CIS. The country accounted for 6.1% of the total oblast turnover with countries outside the CIS in 2006 and for 9.7% in January-July 2007. In the seven months 2007 the trade turnover between Mogilev oblast and Lithuania tripled to reach $48.1 million. Exports to Lithuania grew 3.5 to $45.8 million. Imports shrunk by 20.4% to $2.3 million. The trade surplus stood at $43.5 million. The core exports to Lithuania are tires (51.9%), polyester and resin (14.1%), metal ware (10.9%). The major imports are fodder (35%), glass wastes (25.7%), printed goods, clothes, seeds, flour.