OREANDA-NEWS. January 19, 2010. Belarus hopes the terms of export to the European Union will improve, said Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky as he met with Poland Vice Premier, Economy Minister Waldemar Pawlak, reported the Official website government.by.

“We hope that the European Union will make a move towards Belarusian export in 2010,” said the Prime Minister.

While the European Union’s overall customs tariffs average close to 5%, for Belarusian export they are as large as 17-80%, remarked Sergei Sidorsky. These tariffs are imposed on trucks, special vehicles and high-tech products. According to the Belarusian head of Government, these aspects were discussed in a private meeting with Waldemar Pawlak.

The Prime Minister reminded that in 2008-2009 Belarus and Poland had to regulate the operation of Polish farmers on the Belarusian market and the export of Belarusian agricultural products to Europe. Thus, the duty on Belarusian meat exports stands at 90%. Apart from that, Belarus is the only country on which textile exports the European Union puts quotas.

“I see it not only as a certain barrier in the way of free exports but also as a barrier for attracting investments to Belarus,” said Sergei Sidorsky. All the things necessitate regular meetings for discussing business promotion of the two countries.

Belarus and Poland have a capacity to increase the bilateral trade in 2010, Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky said.

According to Sergei Sidorsky, before the crisis arose the bilateral trade made up \\\\$3 billion, then it halved down to US1.5 billion. However, the countries are well-positioned to boost the trade in 2010, after all the bilateral trade translates into new jobs for Belarusians and Poles, the Belarusian Premier said.

He reminded that the Belarus-Poland Economic Cooperation Commission is holding a session in Minsk. “The work of this commission is of interest not only to the government of Belarus and Poland, but also to the businesses of the two countries. The agenda of such meetings includes not only political, but also burning economic issues that should be settled to advance the trade and economic cooperation. All this requires prompt decisions,” Sergei Sidorsky said.

The Customs Union of Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan which became operational on 1 January opens up new opportunities for the Polish business on this market. “Polish and European goods will be delivered to Novosibirsk and Astana under the same customs terms. This opens up good prospects for Polish exports,” Sergei Sidorsky said.

Poland Vice Premier, Economy Minister Waldemar Pawlak noted that during this crisis period the sides should do everything possible to facilitate trade and economic cooperation. He also expressed hope that Belarus and Poland will implement investment projects in power engineering and will cooperate in various areas and on various levels.

An agreement was signed in Minsk between the State Property Committee of Belarus and Poland’s AKJ Capital on representing Belarus’ interests in the issues of investment attraction to this country.

The AKJ Capital will facilitate the attraction of investments in Belarus, Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Ivan Bambiza told reporters.

“The Polish side has praised the improvement of the investment climate of Belarus. We have agreed that Poland will be able to invest its capital in Belarusian economy,” Ivan Bambiza said. The AKJ Capital and the State Property Committee of Belarus have signed an agreement that makes the AKJ Capital an investment agent. The company will be able to raise investments both from Poland and third countries, said the Deputy Prime Minister.

Belarus and Poland will continue their cooperation in the energy industry that includes the project of a power plant in Zelva. The sides will share their experience in the use of brown coal as fuel. “Our country has considerable deposits of this fossil fuel but lacks the technologies that would enable it to process this fuel effectively. This is the area where we could use the Polish experience,” said Ivan Bambiza.

He also said that the two countries have to restore and intensify their trade and economic relations in the post-crisis period.

Belarus is interested in boosting the comprehensive cooperation with Poland, Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Ivan Bambiza said at the second session of the joint Belarus-Poland Economic Cooperation Commission.

“I am convinced that the Polish side shares our views. However concrete effective mechanisms are needed to achieve this goal, and the today’s session can be viewed as one of such tools,” Ivan Bambiza said.

The Vice-Premier noted that the year 2008 was successful for Belarus-Poland cooperation; the bilateral trade reached US 3 billion. However, in January-November 2009 the trade halved down to US 1.435 billion because of the global crisis. The export made up US 732 million vs. US 1.729 billion in the same period in 2008 (42.4%), the import made up US 702.3 million or 66.8% as against the same period the year before.

“The level of trade and economic cooperation between our countries lags behind the true potential, a lot has to be done to step up cooperation in many areas,” Ivan Bambiza said. “We have recently advanced a lot in the political and economic dialogue; the meetings on the level of deputy premiers and foreign ministers have become regular. At the same time, we are still facing many challenges, like simplifying visa regulations. The agreement on cross-border travels which is being reconciled now, is aimed to solve this issue,” Ivan Bambiza said.
 
The Belarusian Vice-Premier underlined that the efficient cooperation between Belarus and Poland will be beneficial not only for businesses, but also for ordinary citizens.

The Customs Union of Belarus, Russia, and Kazakhstan will create new opportunities for the Belarus-Poland cooperation, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Poland Waldemar Pawlak said at the session of the Belarusian-Polish commission for economic cooperation in Minsk.

"The Customs Union creates new terms for trade and cooperation between our countries,” said Waldemar Pawlak. He noted that the interest of Polish companies to the cooperation, investments and privatization in Belarus is constantly growing. “Privatization creates big potential for interaction. The Polish experience in privatization can be applied in Belarus,” he said. Waldemar Pawlak also outlined the projects in power industry (construction of a power plant in Zelva) as a promising field of cooperation. Among the priorities of the Belarus-Polish cooperation Waldemar Pawlak named oil and gas industries, chemical industry, rail transportation, and agriculture.

Pawlak also stressed that Poland is interested in supporting the Belarus-EU contacts. “Apart from that, we welcome the intention of Belarus to enter the WTO. We would also like to see the conditions created for concrete measures within the Eastern Partnership initiative. This will facilitate the cooperation between our countries,” he said.

Belarus and Poland have a big untapped potential for the development of economic ties and business cooperation, according to Waldemar Pawlak. “The competitiveness of our countries on the international markets has noticeably increased. We hope that, despite the crisis, we will preserve and develop the economic ties between our countries,” said Waldemar Pawlak.