BREST, 11 February (BelTA) – In 2018 Brest companies penetrated 12 new target markets, shipping their products to Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America, BelTA learned from First Deputy Chairman of the Brest City Executive Committee Vadim Kravchuk.
The official said: “We did rather well in 2018. The foreign trade surplus was over $114 million while the trade volume exceeded $1.8 billion. We reached or, to be exact, tried 12 new target markets.” In particular, OAO Savushkin Product delivered the first few batches of milk whey to Myanmar and Finland. Brest Meat Packing Plant shipped some products to Pakistan. The mechanical engineering company Kompo exported food industry equipment to Columbia and Peru.
On the whole, products made by Brest companies were shipped to 77 countries across the globe. Russia was the main target market, with its share in the city's export as high as 82%. Russia bought $800 million worth of merchandise from Brest. Deliveries to Ukraine went up by nearly 50%, with shipments to Germany roughly doubled and shipments to China tripled.
The export of services grows fast. Transport services represent the bulk of the city's export of services. The export of civil engineering services, tourism services, and education and healthcare services is also on the rise. The export of computer services rose by 60% to reach $16 million in 2018. Some 3 billion people use software products developed in Brest. This area has serious development prospects, stressed the first deputy chairman of the Brest City Executive Committee.
Vadim Kravchuk added that the enhancement of twinning relations represents another opportunity to increase Brest's export. The city will host the second economic forum of Brest's sister cities and partners in September. About 20 cooperation agreements were signed during the first forum. It gave a certain impulse to trade growth. “We expect we will welcome at least 30 more delegations this year,” Vadim Kravchuk concluded.
