OREANDA-NEWS. October 17, 2008. Belarus is ready to welcome Latvian investment in the energy industry, First Vice Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko said at a meeting with Economy minister of Latvia Kaspars Gerhards in Minsk, reported the Official website www.government.by.

He noted, Belarus has been working on creating attractive services for investors in the energy industry. Two bills are being drafted: on electrical energy industry and on renewable energy and local fuels. A brand new concept will be that energy facilities can be built in the country not only by state-run organisations but also by private business. These facilities can be included into the energy system or can export their products.

The law on electrical energy industry will be issued next year, Vladimir Semashko added. Preferential terms will be granted for the construction of facilities running on renewables or local fuels which will be an important factor too. “We would like domestic and foreign business to arrive in the electrical energy industry,” Vladimir Semashko stressed.

According to him, the Belarusian side is ready to welcome Latvian investors to the timber, light and other industries. For example, a promising area of cooperation is the implementation of the projects under the woodworking industry development programme, which budget is around US1.7 billion.

These are the construction of four lamented chipboards plants, five facilities to make medium density fibreboards, a bleached pulp plant and others. Belarus is ready to offer Latvia many products of industrial application, including farm machines and is also interested in setting up joint ventures in Latvia.

According to Vladimir Semashko, Belarus and Latvia have been successfully developing the trade and economic cooperation. Last year the mutual trade almost doubled to US 1.123 billion. Over the eight months of 2008, the trade reached US1.675 billion, up 2.6 times over the same point of 2007. In January-August, Belarus’ exports soared 2.8 times to US 1.58 billion mainly due to oil supplies. According to the First Vice-Premier, the trade growth is dramatic, yet there is still a large untapped potential in many other cooperation areas.

Economy Minister of Latvia Kaspars Gerhards expressed interest in stepping up cooperation and praised the work of the session of the Belarusian-Latvian intergovernmental commission for economic and sci-tech cooperation. He also lauded the Belarusian-Latvian investment forum attended by almost 200 Latvian businessmen.

Belarus offers Latvia electric energy transit services, First Vice-Premier of Belarus Vladimir Semashko said. “We have good cooperation prospects in transit and delivery of electric energy,” Vladimir Semashko said. The issues of organizing the transit of Ukraine’s electric energy to the Baltic countries were discussed at the previous session of the Belarusian-Ukrainian joint commission. “We have already detailed the issue,” the First Vice-Premier said. In his words, Belarus has every technical possibility to secure the Ukrainian electric energy transit to Latvia.

Belarus is going to export its electric energy surplus after the first unit of its nuclear power station is constructed in 2016. “We are ready to consider electric energy exports to Latvia as there will be excess of energy in the north-western part of Belarus,” Vladimir Semashko said.

According to Economy Minister of Latvia Kaspars Gerhards, the Baltic states will suffer energy deficit after the Ignalina nuclear power station is closed. Latvia is deeply interested in the Belarusian proposal on securing transit of the Ukrainian electric energy or exporting the energy of its future nuclear power station. “Within the next ten or 20 years the issue will remain on the agenda,” he said.

Belarus is interested in acquiring the controlling stake of the Latvian Kalija Parks company. According to Vice-Premier of Belarus Vladimir Semashko, Latvia needs to determine its position in the issue. “The owners should settle everything out between themselves,” he added.

The First Vice-Premier of Belarus is concerned about the reducing transit flow of Belarusian potash fertilizers via Latvia. “Three years ago we shipped up to 3.8 million tonnes per year via the port of Ventspils. Over the nine months of 2008 it was only 900,000 tonnes. By the end of the year we are expected to reach 1.2-1.3 million tonnes,” Vladimir Semashko said. In his words, “the main reason is that the policy on railway tariffs and services of stevedore companies is not very correct in Latvia”.

“We have big plans concerning the Kalija Parks bulk cargo terminal. We are even ready to purchase a certain stake in it,” he said. Belarus wants to secure the transshipment of Belarusian goods while for the Latvia side this will present a possibility to increase transshipment many times. More so, Belarus has been boosting the production of potash and nitrogen fertilizers.

According to Kaspars Gerhards, Belarusian freight accounts for one third of the total amount shipped via the Latvian ports. The Riga and Ventspils ports are now fully loaded and the Latvian side is interested in increasing the volume of transshipment of Belarusian fertilizers, oil and other products. He is confident that during the negotiations Latvian and Belarusian companies will find common grounds including in the issues concerning acquisition of assets.