NEWS

Belarus and Ukraine are determined to set up new joint ventures

Belarus and Ukraine are determined to set up new joint ventures, Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky said as he met with Ukrainian Premier Yulia Timoshenko in Kiev on June 12.

“We agreed that it is necessary to attach a special importance to the establishment of joint ventures which will advance our trade,” the Belarusian Premier said. At present, the Ukrainian market accounts for almost a quarter of Belarusian tractors. Tractor assembly plants operate in Kiev and Nikolayev. Dnepropetrovsk has an assembly production of agricultural machinery and aggregates. Mogilev lifts are also assembled at a Belarus-Ukraine joint venture.

Sergei Sidorsky underlined the importance of the expansion of Ukrainian business presence on the Belarusian market. “Ukrainian businessmen are welcome here, they bring new technologies and do not depend on raw materials of the country,” Sergei Sidorsky said.

The contract on the supply of the Ukrainian electric energy to Belarus comes into force on June 12, Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky said.

According to Sergei Sidorsky, “it is another way to boost Belarusian-Ukrainian relations”.

Yulia Timoschenko said that Ukraine and Belarus can actively cooperate in the issues of Ukraine’s electric energy supplies to other countries. “We can do a lot in the joint export of the electric energy to other states,” the Ukrainian Premier stressed.

Belarus and Ukraine have exceptional opportunities for trade, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko noted during her meeting with Belarusian Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky.

“Our short face-to-face meeting with Sergei Sidorsky opens up great prospects for the cooperation,” Yulia Timoshenko said. The record-high bilateral trade last year shows that Belarus and Ukraine have exceptional opportunities for trade. According to the Ukrainian Premier, the figures this year are not that impressive as last year. At the same time, the Belarusian-Ukrainian financial system of payments in bilateral trade is getting back on track. According to Yulia Timoshenko, this instills hope that the trade will start growing.

Yulia Timoshenko noted the importance of the Belarusian-Ukrainian agreement on cooperation in research and use of the outer space for peaceful purposes. The agreement is expected to be signed in Kiev on June 12. The document will help both the sides jointly develop new and high technologies.

The Ukrainian Prime Minister expressed hope that the present meeting will help eliminate the problems which exist in the relations including the restrictions on export of Belarusian tyres to Ukraine. The relative document is expected to be signed as well. Sergei Sidorsky and Yulia Timoshenko also discussed the restrictions on supplies of Belarusian agricultural machinery to Ukraine. The Ukrainian side has assured that these restrictions will be removed.

The Ukrainian Premier highly praised the work of the bilateral intergovernmental commission for trade and economic cooperation. The commission has helped the two sides establish good contacts and maintain an ongoing dialogue. The trade and economic cooperation of Belarus and Ukraine has good prospects.

Belarus is going to introduce a most-favoured-nation regime with Ukraine, said Prime Minster of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky. According to him, Belarus is going to remove all the barriers in the bilateral trade with Ukraine. The 10% import duty that was introduced in response to the similar move of the Ukrainian side will be abolished.

The Belarusian Foreign Ministry and the Ukrainian Economy Ministry signed an agreement on supply of automobile tyres. For some period of time this issue was a great obstacle in the Belarus-Ukraine trade.

According to Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko, the two states are developing very good relations. The bilateral trade has to take into consideration the impact of the global financial crisis. In 2008, the trade doubled. Now the countries want to at least preserve the trade growth on the pre-crisis level.

Sergei Sidorsky said that Belarus and Ukraine have developed “a good anti-crisis plan.” All the abovementioned measures and the documents signed on June 12 are designed to ensure smooth bilateral trade. “We agreed to remove the barriers and start working on the promotion of domestic goods on each other’s markets,” he underlined.

He pointed out the importance of settling the dispute over the mutual calculation in the national currency. This issue will be discussed during the visit of the chairman of the Ukrainian central bank to Belarus.

The sides touched upon the development of innovative break-through projects. According to Sergei Sidorsky, “today we are laying the foundation for the economy of the post-crisis period.” He informed that over the last month a positive trend emerged in the Belarus-Ukraine trade– a 2-4% increase in the bilateral trade.

Yulia Timoshenko said that she is closely watching the work of the Belarusian government. “Not every country can boast the GDP growth in the conditions of the global financial and economic crisis,” she said.

Business negotiations were held during the ongoing visit of the Belarusian Premier to Kiev. According to Belarus’ Industry Minister Anatoly Rusetsky, “there is some progress in the solution of trade issues between Belarus and Ukraine which is of vital importance for Belarusian manufacturers.”

The resumption of import of Ukrainian electric energy will allow both the countries to create a balance in mutual payments. According to Anatoly Rusetsky, the Belarusian-Ukrainian joint ventures in Ukraine will enjoy the benefits of MFN regime. They will be able to get loans in Ukrainian banks to provide supplies of their products.

At present, Ukraine is stepping up construction including road construction. It means that the demand for the Belarusian machinery produced by MAZ and BelAZ will be restored. At the same time, Ukrainian customers have some money issues, but both the sides are ready to settle this problem, Anatoly Rusetsky noted.

On June 12, the sides also discussed the supplies of Belarusian dairy products including butter to the Ukrainian market. According to Belarusian Minister of Agriculture and Food Semyon Shapiro, in Q1 2009, Belarus supplied more than 600,000 tonnes of butter to Ukraine. The sides discussed other possibilities to intensify the cooperation between Belarusian and Ukrainian producers.

Within the framework of the working visit to Kiev, Sergei Sidorsky also met with Chairman of the Ukrainian Verkhovnaya Rada Vladimir Litvin.

PUBLICATIONS OF THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS

INTERNET RESOURCES