OREANDA-NEWS. March 20, 2008. Belarus is going to cooperate with the financial corporations of Korea. The creation of Korean financial companies in Belarus is a new area of the bilateral cooperation, Sergei Sidorsky, the Prime Minister of Belarus, said at a meeting with Lee Yun Soo, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Korea to the Republic of Belarus, in Minsk on March 19.

The Prime Minister of Belarus noted that “next week he is going to meet with the head of the Korean large financial company in Minsk”. Belarus and Korea continue developing a number of new interesting projects, including the project related to Korean cars Hyundai. The cooperation with the company was considered in November 2007 during the visit of the Belarusian PM to Korea.

Sergei Sidorsky underlined the importance of cooperation with the Korean LG Company. “We are interested in promoting cooperation with the company including in the area of joint manufacture of household appliances,” the Belarusian PM said. Under the contracts with the company the research association Integral has been supplied with LCD panels. “This is our successful joint project,” Sergei Sidorsky said. Taking into account Belarusian technologies, new products will take a decent place in the Belarusian TV industry.

The Prime Minister of Belarus praised the joint activity in other areas as well. Thus, a representative office of the Korean investment agency KOTRA will open in Belarus in the near future.

The embassy of the Republic of Korea to the Republic of Belarus opened in Minsk in December 2007. Sergei Sidorsky expressed confidence that the activity of Ambassador Lee Yun Soo would be focused “on the agreements reached during our visit to Korea in 2007”.

“Korea and Belarus are highly ranked at the world high-tech market. This cooperation area will be further developed by the joint affords of the two countries,” Sergei Sidorsky underlined.

President of Korea’s LG Electronics will visit Minsk in March-April this year, Sergei Sidorsky, the Prime Minister of Belarus, said at a meeting with Lee Yun Soo.

According to Sergei Sidorsky, Belarus started actively cooperating with LG in November 2007. Under the contracts with the company the research association Integral has been supplied with LCD panels. “This is our successful joint project,” Sergei Sidorsky said.

“We are interested in promoting cooperation with the company including in the area of joint manufacture of household appliances,” the Belarusian PM said.

The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Korea to the Republic of Belarus thanked the head of the Belarusian Government for the meeting and noted that the Korean authorities show great interest in Belarus. The ambassador highly valued the 2007 visit of Belarusian PM Sergei Sidorsky to Korea and considers it to be very productive.

In 2007 trade between Belarus and Korea surged by 66% over 2006 to \\$143.668 million. Exports grew more than twofold to exceed \\$18 million, imports by 61.4% to \\$125.634 million.

For the past three to five years Belarus’ major exports to South Korea have been integrated circuits, semi-conductors, potassium, polyamides, artificial fibres, fiberglass and glass-cloth, black fibres, optic and measuring tools, laser equipment, steel products, bearings, medical devices.

Among the largest exporters to the Korean market are Integral, Belarusian Potash Company (deliveries are not regular), Polotsk-Steklovolokno, BMZ, Svetlogorsk company Khimvolokno, Grodno Khimvolokno, Laser and IT, Eton.

Over the recent years Belarus has focused on the exports of science-related and high technology products to Korea. Not taking into account potassium, the exports growth to Korea in 2007 totaled 37.1%.

Belarus imports from Korea (nearly 200 commodity items) are presented by high-technology products – cars, spare parts for electronic and electro-mechanic industries including electron tubes and LCD panels; raw materials for chemical and light industries, synthetic and artificial fabric, X-ray and medical equipment, household appliances, computer and telecommunications equipment and spare parts.

There is a Belarusian-South Korean joint venture on the production and sales of textile haberdashery and footwear and two companies with 100% Korean capital in Belarus.

The representative offices of the companies LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics (electronics and household appliances), TM-Korea (bimetals) and Delta Medical (steam sterilizers and other medical equipment) have opened in Minsk.