MINSK, 9 August (BelTA) – Given the sanctions and the situation on the markets, Belarus is set to step up the exploration of minerals in its own territory. The topic about minerals was, in particular, raised as Architecture and Construction Minister Ruslan Parkhamovich made a report at the meeting of the Council of Ministers held on 9 August to discuss the functioning of the country's economy under sanctions and measures to overcome them, BelTA has learned.
The minister said he expects good dynamics in the export of goods and services. The volume of contract works outside the country is growing significantly. But there is a slight drop in investment activity within the country.
Aleksandr Lukashenko drew attention to such an aspect as the development of the domestic mineral resource base as the supply of certain types of raw materials has stopped due to sanctions or due to price hikes. Among these, for example, is clay, which is used for the production of tiles, plumbing products.
There are deposits of this raw material in Belarus. Plans are in place to ensure stable production of the raw materials necessary for the corresponding manufactures by the end of the year.
The same applies to a number of other positions. "The work on the development of the mineral resource base is not satisfying. Indeed, everything was simple and easy yesterday. Belarus imported these products from Ukraine, Russia," Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko acknowledged the problem. “Now one of the most important tasks is to accelerate the exploration of mineral reserves. We don't have a lot of them. But even those that we have have not been explored enough. In the very near future, we will begin to deal with this topic very clsoely."
"We need to look for options. But the industry cannot be ruined," Aleksandr Lukashenko warned.
