MINSK, 13 September (BelTA) – Belarusian companies need to be more active in developing the market of the United Arab Emirates, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Belarus to the UAE Andrei Luchenok told the media, BelTA has learned.
According to the ambassador, Belarus has been successfully working in the region in such traditional sectors as supplies of military-industrial products and the export of services. There is also a number of promising areas where national companies are not active enough. These are, for example, agriculture and food. “Different countries, from Australia to the UK, are present on the food market of the UAE, Saudi Arabia. Our neighbors, Ukraine, Poland and Russia, have gained a strong foothold there. This means we also have opportunities,” the ambassador said.
According to Andrei Luchenok, Belarusian enterprises are more oriented to the Russian market, which is traditional and well-known for them. The Arab market is much more difficult to develop, but has undeniable advantages. “The market is highly competitive, saturated due to a high solvency, and everyone dreams of working on this market. The market is growing. Near is Saudi Arabia with a 30-million population. Agriculture is not the most developed area there,” said the ambassador.
According to Andrei Luchenok, Belarusian enterprises have the opportunity to get the Halal certificate to supply products to the Arab countries. “Unfortunately, they have not used this opportunity so far,” the ambassador said.
Belarus has been actively developing the export of its services to the UAE. Since the start of the year the growth made up 47% over the same period last year. “These are tourism, healthcare and educational services. People come here from the UAE for post-graduate education, specialized courses. For example, specialists from Saudi Arabia underwent training courses in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection in August,” Andrei Luchenok said.
