OREANDA-NEWS. On March 27, 2009 First Vice Premier of Belarus Vladimir Semashko has invited German investors to partake in mechanical engineering projects in Belarus. Vladimir Semashko made the relevant statement when he met with Thomas Jurk, Vice Premier, Minister for Economy and Labour of the federal land Saxony (Germany), in Minsk, reported the Official website www.government.by.

Vladimir Semashko handed over a file with projects that German investors may partake in. “Here are projects for any taste and budget,” he added. The list includes the production of tractor generators in Borisov, BelAZ retooling (US180 million), production of caterpillar tractors Belarus.

In addition, Belarus is interested in inviting foreign investors to build a modern exhibition and trade centre in Minsk.

At present relations between Belarus and Germany are on the rise. Belarus is interested in cooperation with Germany. “I think it is our mutual interest,” Vladimir Semashko is convinced.
Since 2004 Belarus-Germany has increased by 280%. The two countries have the common goal of continuing to increase the figure.

Vladimir Semashko cited positive example of the credit and investment cooperation between Belarus and Germany. He mentioned the establishment of a juice and baby food enterprise in the town of Vysokoye, Brest oblast.

The First Vice Premier said he was confident the first official visit of the Saxon delegation to Belarus will boost the future development of the trade and economic relations. “We are dreaming about Belarusian buses used in Leipzig”, said Vladimir Semashko and asked the German side to support the project. Machine building can become a priority branch of the economic cooperation between Belarus and Germany, the First Vice Premier said.

The sides can develop cooperation in the areas of chemistry, petrochemistry, information technologies, science and education. Belarus is interested in making parts for German companies. “It will enable us to use the capacities of our enterprises in full and will give you an opportunity to purchase high-quality and reasonably-priced products,” Vladimir Semashko underlined.

He said that Belarus is actively renewing its key assets. With this in mind the country is taking steps to raise investments and is interested in the German capital.

Vice Premier, Minister for Economy and Labour of the federal land Saxony (Germany) Thomas Jurk said he was satisfied with the results of the visit. He remarked that many companies which heads came to Belarus with the delegation cooperate with Belarusian companies. They had visited BelAZ, MAZ, and MTZ.

“We saw how Belarusian companies are overcoming the consequences of the global crisis and are trying to establish the foundation which will enable them to emerge from the crisis even stronger than before,” Thomas Jurk noted. He added that German import to Belarus is mainly made up of Saxony products. The German side is interested in the dynamic development of the bilateral trade with Belarus, he underlined.

In 2008 Germany was Belarus’ fourth largest trade and economic partner following Russia, the Netherlands and Ukraine. in 2008 the bilateral trade rose 24.2% to reach US 3.6 billion. Belarus’ export went up by 11.1% to US 812.4 million while the import rose by 28.6% to US 2.8 billion. The trade deficit totalled US 2 billion. In particular, in 2008 supplies from Saxony increased by 160% in comparison with 2007 — from EUR45 million to EUR116 million. Belarus moved from the 50th to the 38th position on Saxony’s foreign trade partners list.

Belarus’ major exports are semi-finished products made of ferrous metals (9.7% of the export to Saxony), machinery construction products (5.2%), tractors (4.9%), chemical products (3.5%), tinned vegetables (3.3%). Belarus imports machinery construction products (19.5%), machine-tool equipment (6.6%), automobile parts (5.4%), bearings and gears (4.3%).

In January 2009 export to Germany rose by 13.7% over January 2008 to US 49.5 million, with import down by 4.6% to US 121.6 million.

Germany is Belarus’ main supplier of high-technology equipment, which is used in modernisation of production facilities of Belarusian companies.

Credit and investment cooperation plays an important role in the Belarusian-German relations. Since 1992 Germany has extended more than US 550 million in loans to Belarusian companies. In 2008 Belarus attracted US 116.8 million of German investments, including US 93.7 million of direct investment (up 3.3 times).

There are 338 companies in Belarus with German capital including 189 joint ventures and 149 foreign companies. There are 76 offices of German firms. The biggest ones are BASF AG, Lufthansa, Bayer AG, Siemens AG, Autorann, German Economy Office, and Fresenius.

Six Belarusian companies have offices in Germany. These are Minsk Tractor Works (Belimpex Handels GmbH in Leipzig), Belarusian Steel Works (Belastahl Aussenhandel GmbH in Berlin), Belmagistralavtotrans (Belmagistralavtotrans Spedition GmbH in Alzey), the national air company Belavia (Frankfurt am Main), the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Leipzig), Belneftekhim Concern, and Belarusbank (Frankfurt am Main).