LYASKOVICHI, 26 April (BelTA) - Belarus and Ukraine will step up work to set up new joint ventures in various sectors of the economy, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko told the media following the talks with Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko, BelTA has learned.
“We agreed to take a fresh look at industrial cooperation, to intensify the work on setting up new joint ventures in various sectors of the economy,” Alexander Lukashenko said.
A priority should be given to the cooperation in industry, petrochemical sector, agriculture, transport and logistics. "Belarus is ready to increase the supplies of transport vehicles and farm machines, fertilizers and building materials to Ukraine. In turn, we are interested in the purchase of metal products, crop and livestock goods," the Belarusian head of state said.
The heads of state discussed the concrete projects of bilateral partnership during the negotiations. The governments of the two countries were instructed to maximize the use of available tools to support the ties between the enterprises of Belarus and Ukraine and to bolster inter-sectoral ties.
“For many years, Ukraine has been one of the main markets for Belarusian enterprises, while Belarus has been the market for Ukrainian goods. Of course, we are still far from the previous indicators. However, in 2016 the bilateral trade rose by more than 12% and amounted to $4 billion,” Alexander Lukashenko said.
Belarus is the fourth largest trading partner of Ukraine. Ukraine has plants that assemble the goods of the Minsk tractor and automobile works, Gomselmash and Mogilevliftmash and also municipal vehicles and fire fighting equipment. “We agreed that we will support these processes, will aim for greater localization of production in Ukraine, and expand the list of goods which we will produce together,” the president added.
