NEWS

The working visit of the Belarusian Premier to Riga

The trade between Belarus and Latvia will exceed $2.1 billion in 2008, Belarusian Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky said during the opening of Belarus EXPO 2008 National Exhibition in Riga on November 12. In 2007, the trade between the two countries made up more than $1.1 billion. According to him, in January-September 2008, the trade between the two countries made up almost $1.9 billion, or 2.5 times up over the same period of last year. In 2008, the trade between Belarus and Latvia is expected to exceed $2.1 billion, the official added.

The Head of the Belarusian Government noted that Latvia is playing host to the 7th national exhibition of the Republic of Belarus. Belarus is interested in setting up the joint production facilities with Latvia, developing the interbranch cooperation. The main goal of the Belarusian national exhibition is to intensify the Belarusian-Latvian cooperation.

During the forum, almost 140 Belarusian companies and organizations will display their products and services, demonstrate the modern state of the economy, the potential of its branches. “These are the goods which identify the efficiently developing economy of Belarus”, Sergei Sidorsky noted.

The exhibition features the Belarusian automobile, tractor and agricultural machinery, products of the machine-building branch, petrochemical, light, food and furniture industries, construction materials, household appliances and consumer goods. The exposition also showcases the achievements in Belarus’ science and high-tech.

“Belarus is an important trade partner of Latvia. There are a great number of examples of the cooperation. In particular, the cooperation in transit logistics, textile and pharmaceutical industries, car-building, tourism and other areas,” Latvian Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis noted during the opening of exhibition Belarus EXPO 2008. In the future the cooperation between the two countries will be developing, Ivars Godmanis is sure. “An appearance of a regular flight from Riga to Minsk promotes the intensification of business contacts. The cooperation is so intensive that, I believe, there will be a necessity to increase the number of flights between the cities,” the Latvian Prime Minister highlighted.

Real commodity production should prevail during the period of the financial crisis, Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky told reporters. The financial crisis revealed the harmfulness of the monetary policy used to be pursued around the world. The crisis showed that the real commodity production will be the determining factor in economy, especially at this stage, Sergei Sidorsky stated. He underlined that in the period of the crisis the priority should be given to the development of real trade.

According to him, the export markets of the Latvian producers in Belarus and Belarusian producers in Latvia are essential. “Our goal is to stay on these markets, and to enable commodity and money flows prevail over the crisis,” the Belarusian Premier concluded.

Belarus is considering a proposal from Latvia to purchase some part of Ventspils port, Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky said at a press conference after a session of the heads of government of the two countries in Minsk on November 12.

“We have received several proposals from Latvian companies. Among them is a proposal to purchase some part of the Ventspils seaport. Today we are studying the economic feasibility of this proposal,” Sergei Sidorsky said.

According to Sergei Sidorsky, some issues were settled during the previous meeting with the Prime Minister of Latvia. Over the last several months the trade turnover in the Ventspils port soared 16-28%. “I think that the relevant decisions to strengthen competition will help take more efficient decisions in the area”.

Prime Minister of Latvia Ivars Godmanis said that “Latvia does not have any other alternative but to make competitive proposals to the Belarusian companies”.

Belarus expects the International Monetary Fund to make a decision regarding the allocation of a $2 billion loan in the near future, Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky said after the session of the Prime Ministers of Belarus and Latvia.

“Last week we submitted a package of documents to the IMF. The experts of this organization were in favour of our proposal. We expect them to make the decision in the near future”, the Belarusian Premier said.

Sergei Sidorsky reminded the reporters that Belarus had applied to the IMF for a $2 billion loan to create “a safety bag” for the open Belarusian economy. The global financial crisis is affecting the operation of the financial systems of the European Union, the Baltic states and other countries who are Belarus’ trading partners. “It is important that the products we export are paid for in due time. Unfortunately, a number of companies working with Belarusian exporters delay payment up to 180 days which significantly depletes the operating assets of the Belarusian companies,” he added.

The head of the Belarusian government said that at present the impact of the global financial crisis on Belarus is insignificant, but “a safety bag would be just in time for us.”

Belarus and Latvia are discussing the opportunities of cooperation in the construction of a nuclear power plant, Prime Minster of Latvia Ivars Godmanis told a press conference after the session of the heads of government in Riga on November 12.

“We considered the power engineering and energy efficiency issues, potential cooperation regarding the construction of a nuclear power plant in Belarus and also the work of Latvia in the EU to ensure energy security. We are interested in developing direct links in power engineering,” he said.

One of the most important issues of bilateral cooperation is contacts in transport, logistics and transit areas. “We considered not only cooperation just between Belarus and Latvia. We also discussed contacts with Russia, China and other countries,” the Prime Minister said.

According to Ivars Godmanis, the sides also discussed the issues related to investing in various areas: transport, transit and pharmaceutical. Being a member of the European Union, Latvia is ready to organize cooperation in the cross-border regions and contribute to its development with the help of European funds.

Belarus and Latvia have inked three cooperation agreements - the documents have been signed within the framework of the visit of Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky to Riga.

Cooperation agreements have been signed between the National Statistics Committee of Belarus and the Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia, health ministries of the two countries, the State Standardization Committee of the Republic of Belarus and the State Construction, Energy and Housing Agency of the Economy Ministry of Latvia.

The Belarusian Premier told the press conference that Belarus is ready to share its high technologies with its Latvian counterparts and welcomes the further cooperation in the area of innovation projects .

According to the Belarusian Prime Minister, the session of the heads of government of Belarus and Latvia touched upon a number of acute issues, including the transit of goods. About 15 million tonnes of cargo is shipped through the Latvian ports every year. Ventspils and Riga ports are of a great interest to the Belarusian side. “We are interested in creating comfortable conditions for the promotion of our goods to Latvia,” Sergei Sidorsky underlined.

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