NUCLEAR POWER IN BELARUS AND WORLDWIDE
MINSK, 8 February (BelTA) - The countries of the Middle East offer great prospects for Belarusian exporters, Head of the Foreign Economies Sector of the Institute of Economics of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus Pavel Shvedko told BelTA as he commented on the results of Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko's visit to the UAE.
The Middle East countries are an integral part of the rapidly developing Asian market, which is becoming a global economic center. “This market has vast and diverse reserves of resources, huge trade potential and strategic opportunities for further growth. This opens up great prospects for Belarusian exporters,” said Pavel Shvedko.
Despite a small size of the market, the UAE offers all interested Belarusian companies prospects for cooperation in the mining industry, energy, construction, defense and security, healthcare, and transport. “Due to the lack of proper conditions for farming, 70% of all food needs are met by imports. The UAE spends heavily on food. Rising incomes of the population combined with high dependence on imports offer great opportunities for Belarusian food and beverage suppliers, especially in the high quality processed food sector. Chilled and ready-to-eat foods, bakery and confectionery products, dairy products, semi-finished products, canned and frozen foods, soft drinks and flavored water are considered the most demanded categories on the food market. Due to the shortage of fresh water in the region, the UAE is among the largest consumers of bottled drinking water,” said Pavel Shvedko.
There is high demand for video surveillance systems, infrared and thermal cameras, voice and emergency alert systems, multi-sensor cameras, identification control systems, security patrol robots and drones, radar systems, fire safety equipment, perimeter control and access control devices.
According to the expert, thanks to the liberal trade regimes and developed transport and logistics infrastructure in the UAE, a significant share of imported products is further re-exported to Asian and African countries. “Many importers in Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait purchase goods through the UAE, as order volumes from these countries are often less than the minimum required by suppliers. Thus, containerized cargoes sent to the UAE can be broken down into smaller shipments for transportation to other countries,” the economist concluded.
