MINSK, 15 June (BelTA) – Belarus' export share in the import of its top trading partners remains at the level of the previous years, Belarus' Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei said at the meeting of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers held on 14 June to review the progress in building up and diversifying exports and discuss the draft Belarusian national export promotion program for 2016-2020, BelTA has learned.
“It is worth mentioning that the share of the Belarusian export in the import of our major trading partners mainly remains at the level of the previous years. The country's share in the import of Russia, Ukraine, Poland and the Netherlands has even increased. In other areas there is progress, but still insignificant. It gives ground for cautious optimism in meeting the forecast for 2016,” noted Vladimir Makei.
In his words, the country failed to meet the export forecasts in January-April. “However, we can see a gradual narrowing of the gap. Exports to the Russian market are on the rise. The export contraction made up 16.1% in January, and 6.4% in January-April,” the minister said.
According to the minister, the volume of some big commodity items has considerably increased, including that of butter, chipboards and trucks. “Supplies to Ukraine went up by 20%, which is great given a complicated situation in the Ukrainian economy,” said Vladimir Makei.
“Unfortunately, not everything depends on us. The situation with the export of oil products can be cited as an example here. With the strengthened volume by 1.3%, the exports dwindled by more than 35% in the monetary terms because of the recent changes on the world market. The same is true about the supplies of crude oil, liquefied gas, fertilizers and sugar. Without considering the abovementioned commodities the export went down by 5.1% in January-April 2016. The export of all commodities contracted by 18.4%,” Vladimir Makei explained.
Belarus' Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov instructed to finalize the Belarusian national export promotion program for 2016-2020. The Belarusian head of government also ordered to intensify work in improving the aftersales service of the Belarusian products abroad.
