BOBRUISK, 16 November (BelTA) - Container transportation from Belarus to China has increased almost fourfold this year, Belarusian Economy Minister Aleksandr Chervyakov said as he met with labor collectives of Bobruisk to brief them on ongoing military and political developments in Belarus and abroad, BelTA has learned.
“Plans to destroy our economy have failed. The head of state set clear tasks for the whole vertical of power. First, all companies must work and people should not feel the effects of sanctions. The government responded promptly and mobilized all the resources and efforts. An operative situation room was set up to take decisions to support industries and help enterprises. When the sanctions were imposed, we worked practically seven days a week. The Economy Ministry accumulated all the information, made certain conclusions and submitted them to the operational situation room. It made decisions every day,” said Aleksandr Chervyakov.
According to the minister, after a five-month slowdown, the economy began to recover, and since August it has entered the trajectory of recovery growth. The main contribution was made by agriculture, and since September - by industry. In industry, Belarus is expanding in sectors producing high-tech products. The country produced more integrated circuits, tractors, TV sets, optics, and haulers.
"I would like to highlight one of the key issues - food security. Many foreign experts predict a food shortage in the world due to their own sanctions policy. More so, world food prices have risen substantially. This year prices for butter in the European Union skyrocketed by 80%, for milk powder by 50%, for beef by 28%. In the Baltic states, the food basket has become 20% more expensive. More than 30% of Britons began to save on food. Belarus ensured its food security a long time ago. We fully provide ourselves with staples," Aleksandr Chervyakov said.
The economy minister noted that this year Belarus cropped its record high harvest of grain crops over the past five years. Belarus is provided with vegetables, has set up stabilization stocks for the off-season period. The country is also creating solid fodder stocks for animal husbandry. This guarantees that Belarusians will be fully provided with meat, milk and bread.
"The deputy chief of the KGB said that the self-exiled opposition predict 'hunger riots'. This will definitely not happen,” Aleksandr Chervyakov is convinced. “The agricultural output is enough to satisfy the domestic demand and to sell into foreign markets. This year, we have already exported food and agricultural goods worth almost $6 billion, up by more than a quarter year-on-year.”
Measures have been also taken to counter the sanctions that have affected transport and logistics. As for railway transport, Belarus increased container transportation to China by almost 4.5 times in January-October year-on-year.
