MINSK, 31 July (BelTA) – Belarus needs urgent efforts to diversify export, including amid changing market conditions in Russia, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he met with heads of Belarus’ diplomatic missions in Minsk on 31 July, BelTA has learned.
The president noted that Belarus has significantly reoriented its export flows toward Russia in recent years, with the Russian Federation now accounting for 65% of Belarus' total exports, including 90% for the Industry Ministry and Bellegprom supplies, 80% for construction materials (Construction and Architecture Ministry), over 70% for agricultural products (Agriculture and Food Ministry), 50% for forestry products (Bellesbumprom).
“The entire economy is concentrated on a single market that has fundamentally changed. This is not 2022 when Western companies fled Russia. Today's market is oversaturated with intensifying competition. And this is just the beginning,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
While emphasizing Belarus' commitment to defending its Russian market share through industrial cooperation and premium service, the president said: “When even Russian manufacturers like Rostselmash or the Yaroslavl Motor Plant are idling production and laying off workers, we cannot solve our export challenges through state support alone. No enterprise will be permitted to simply ‘wait out’ the downturn. We need to diversify. There are enough places where it can be done,” the president said.
Aleksandr Lukashenko highlighted successful trade diversification with Azerbaijan, Georgia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, where exports have doubled over four years, generating a $2 billion surplus. “This is what we have for the current period. Complacency will reverse these gains,” he cautioned.
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