MINSK, 2 August (BelTA) – Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko visited Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange to get familiar with its import substitution efforts in Minsk on 2 August, BelTA has learned.
"First of all, we need to satisfy the needs of our producers, meet the domestic demand and promote our goods to foreign markets. At the same time we seek to establish an effective pricing strategy and exclude dishonest intermediaries. Therefore, the Ministry of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade proposed to look into the experience of Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange which has achieved certain successes in each of the designated areas," Roman Golovchenko said.
The Belarusian head of government was briefed on the work of BUCE in these areas and on import substitution, on the possibilities to align the exchange mechanisms of Belarus and other EAEU member countries. Special consideration was given to the prospects for the broad transnational use of the exchange trade mechanism, primarily within the framework of the Union State.
In May, Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange launched a new tool for business: an import substitution platform. "The idea emerged in response to the sanctions against our country. Today its role in the economy of our state is simply invaluable. It has a number of advantages, for example, it automatically selects offers in response to customer requests for those goods that we cannot purchase, for example, in the countries of the European Union and America today. Proposals to replace these imports come both from our country and also the friendly ones: the Russian Federation and other CIS countries, China and other Asian countries. Business entities, using this platform, can quickly and conveniently pick up the necessary goods that they used to buy elsewhere," said Belarusian Minister of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade Aleksei Bogdanov.
According to him, work is being done to attract manufacturers from Belarus and other countries to register and offer their goods. "One request can rake up up to 10-20 offers of similar goods from friendly countries. It shows all specifications: the price, the volume, the packaging, and so on," the minister said.
"In addition, it is possible to place an order for production. For example, if a product is needed, the order is placed in a special sector. Manufacturers see a specific request for an import-substituting product and can adjust their production programs to it," the minsiter added.
