MINSK, 30 August (BelTA) - The trade between Belarus and China has been growing at a record high pace, Belarusian Deputy Economy Minister Alesya Abramenko said a a meeting of the working group to ease trade procedures of the Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation at the Belarusian-Chinese Intergovernmental Committee, BelTA learned from the press service of the Economy Ministry.
The working group convened for the second meeting on 30 August. It was chaired by Deputy Economy Minister Alesya Abramenko, the head of the group on behalf of Belarus, and Liu Jun, Second Inspector of the Department of Eurasia Affairs of the Ministry of Commerce (with the rank of deputy director), the head of the group on behalf of China.
The event was attended by representatives of agencies, embassies, chambers of commerce, business circles of Belarus and China. The participants of the working group considered issues of expanding the scale of mutual trade, strengthening cooperation of industry associations, interaction in the field of e-commerce, transport and logistics.
According to Alesya Abramenko, the main result of the work since the previous meeting is a significant increase in trade. "In 2021, the foreign trade hit a record high of almost $6 billion. Chiba is Belarus' second largest trading partner. In January-June 2022, the export across the commodity items of order increased by 1.8 times year-on-year, and that of agricultural goods - by 1.6 times," the deputy minister said.
The parties outlined a number of areas of work to deepen trade cooperation. Among them are increasing mutual trade, implementing an export order, import requests, promoting accreditation of Belarusian producers of meat, rapeseed oil, and other products of plant origin. The parties will also ensure unimpeded logistics, implement a number of mutually beneficial initiatives to structure and accelerate commodity flows, sign an agreement on trade in services and investment between Belarus and China in 2023. In addition, the parties agreed to promote e-commerce, popularize the Belarusian pavilion on the Chinese electronic platforms, to study the signing of a bilateral document in e-commerce between Belarus and China, to hold events to promote trade and investment and actively prepare for the China International Import Expo (due in Shanghai on 5-10 November 2022).
"The items on our agenda are fully consistent with global trends. Their solution will allow us not only to stay afloat in international competition, but, above all, to achieve the goals of socio-economic development of our countries," Alesya Abramenko summed up.
