CHELYABINSK, April 4 (RIA Novosti) - The Chelyabinsk Region in Russia's Urals intends to promote economic cooperation with Britain, Governor Pyotr Sumin said at a meeting with Jenny Lock, HM Consul General in Yekaterinburg.
"The groundbreaking ceremony for a plant producing aluminum cans for British company Rexam took place in the Chelyabinsk Region today," Sumin said. "The joint project should boost relations between the U.K. and the region."
The establishment of a high-tech enterprise producing competitive goods in a rural area of the South Urals will be highly important for the region, the governor said.
Lock said she viewed the invitation to attend the groundbreaking ceremony of a Rexam plant in Russia as a good chance to visit the Chelyabinsk Region. The $73 million to be invested in the plant is a solid example of Russian-British cooperation in the region, she said.
The governor's proposal to promote cooperation, notably in construction, will be turned over to the consulate's experts for consideration, the U.K. consul added.
Vladimir Dyatlov, first deputy governor of the region, told journalists: "There are already British businesses in the region. For example, a Scottish company co-founded the BBH holding, which owns the Chelyabinsk brewery. The construction of a plant to produce aluminum cans will encourage the brewery to increase its output."
The official said that the partners had experience cooperating in mechanical engineering, and that a British company had applied to participate in a tender for the right to design a satellite town near Chelyabinsk. Companies from France and Germany are also bidding, Dyatlov said.
