MINSK, 5 August (BelTA) – The chambers of commerce and industry of Belarus and Poland will try their best to promote business relations between the two countries, Chairman of the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vladimir Ulakhovich said at the online seminar "Belarus - Poland: Cooperation during global challenges", BelTA has learned.
“Of course, the pandemic unexpectedly intervened in our business, trade and economic relations and the operation of even the smallest business. We did not expect this and did not plan it but we found ourselves in such conditions that force us to respond to this challenge, support our business, and promote bilateral trade and economic ties. This is a big mission of our chambers, this is our common determination to help even the smallest business,” the head of the chamber said.
Vladimir Ulakhovich noted that Poland is a very important economic partner for Belarus. “Many countries could envy our bilateral trade figures in 2019. Poland is our fifth largest partner, and in January-May 2020 it retained this position. Despite the pandemic, there are some positive trends in Belarus-Poland economic relations," he said.
In 2019 the chambers held 41 business events together with Polish partners, Vladimir Ulakhovich said. “It means that our businesses met every week. This year the statistics is quite different. Yet, we organized 13 such events in January-February. As we have had to go online recently, we will continue to work in this format,” Vladimir Ulakhovich said.
President of the Polish Chamber of Commerce Andrzej Arendarski stressed: “This year's statistics shows that the mutual trade has shrunk considerably. These losses were caused by the pandemic. We need to do everything possible to mitigate these consequences to prevent the trade from contracting further and to reverse the negative trend. Such online events will contribute to it as well.”
