MINSK, 6 December (BelTA) – We need to remove the barriers in trade with Russia and expand the export of commodities to the EU countries, Belarus Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov said when speaking at a government meeting to review the export promotion efforts in January-September.
“The problem of barriers in trade with our traditional partners, primarily with the Russian Federation, has not been yet addressed. Although the situation on the Russian market is getting back to normal, we still need additional resources to keep our positions on that market given the increasing inequality in the conditions for economic entities of Belarus and Russia,” Andrei Kobyakov said.
The Prime Minister pointed out that Belarus exported its products to 160 states in January-September 2016. A year ago the country was selling to 155 countries. The list of Belarus' exports to Azerbaijan increased by 77 items as compared with the same period in 2015, to the U.A.E. by 46, to Ukraine by 45 items, to Russia by 38, and to Vietnam by 37.
The share of the EEU countries, including Russia, in Belarus' total exports has increased from 39% to 46%. Meanwhile, the share of the European Union has shrunk. The fall in the supplies to Europe was mainly due to the reduction of the value of petroleum exports. “We see the same picture across many other commodities. The structure of Belarus' exports to EU countries leaves much to be desired,” Andrei Kobyakov said.
