Belarus, Russia disadvantage themselves by maintaining trade barriers – Golovchenko

<p> MINSK, Jul 14 - PrimePress. Belarus and Russia disadvantage themselves by maintaining trade barriers, Prime Minister of Belarus Roman Golovchenko said on July 14 at a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin in Moscow. </p> <p>   </p> <p> “We cannot but admit that we lose benefits by maintaining barriers, exemptions and restrictions of access to our domestic markets. We are fighting this together bilaterally and at the level of Eurasian integration,” Golovchenko said. </p> <p>   </p> <p> According to Mishustin, Belarusian partners have been operating successfully on the Russian market even during the coronavirus pandemic. He hopes that the trade turnover between the countries will increase by the end of the year. </p> <p>   </p> <p> “Our turnover slightly decreased in January-May due to objective reasons, primarily the pandemic. Russia’s exports to Belarus dropped by 31.9%, while Belarus’ exports to Russia were only down by 7%. This means that in this difficult situation, our esteemed Belarusian partners are successfully working on our market, which we welcome. I believe that our joint efforts will rectify the situation by the end of the year,” he said. </p> <p>   </p> <p> As reported, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko appointed Golovchenko prime minister on June 4, 2020, considering him “a reliable person and a good facilitator.” Lukashenko wants the new government to reduce Belarus’ dependence on Russia by diversifying the markets for domestic products and, accordingly, to ensure foreign exchange receipts. Golovchenko states that a reduction in Belarus’ economic, energy and market dependence is a priority. End </p>

2020-07-15

Primepress