OREANDA-NEWS. May 20, 2010. President Alexander Lukashenko met with Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky to receive his report.

Premier Sergei Sidorsky has informed the President that on 21 May 2010 in St. Petersburg there will be a meeting of the CIS council of heads of government and two sessions of the EurAsEC Interstate Council at the level of heads of government involving representatives of five states. Also, there will be a session of the Supreme Body of the Customs Union at the level of prime ministers. Sergei Sidorsky has informed the President on the agreements that have been prepared for the meetings and are now ready for signing at the level of heads of government in pursuance of the orders given the heads of state at the EurAsEC and Customs Union meetings. The documents which preparation was the responsibility of Belarus, have passed the coordination procedure and are ready for signing.

Some matters reflected in the documents are of fundamental importance for Belarus, and Belarus will defend its position on these matters. These include, among others, giving up on plans to impose limitations on the free movement of goods within the Customs Union or removing such limitations. This pertains, among other things, to the customs duties on oil and oil products within the Customs Union.

In the course of the meeting with the Prime Minister, the President has given orders regarding the terms of import by natural persons of passenger cars to Belarus, taking into account Belarus’s participation in the Customs Union. The position of the Belarusian side is that there is a need to make sure that the interests of Belarus are honoured, and either to keep the customs duties as they are now or take a sensible decision and make the duties beneficial for all three member states of the Customs Union. The Kazakh side supports Belarus’s proposals on this matter, the Premier said.

Among other issues on the agenda of the forthcoming meetings there is the issue of free economic zones. Belarus, Russia, and Kazakhstan have these zones. In Belarus and Russia, there are highly effective free economic zones imbued with high technologies; but Russia and Kazakhstan, in addition to free economic zones, also have zones rich in mineral resources. Therefore the sides need to bring their positions closer together on this matter.

The Prime Minister has updated the President on the social and economic performance of Belarus in January-April 2010. Most of the planned targets have been met. The rate of GDP growth was 6.1 per cent; the nation’s industrial output was at the same level.

As for the agricultural industry, it grew by 5.4 per cent in January-April. Updating the President on the spring sowing campaign, Sergei Sidorsky mentioned Vitebsk Region as the only one that has not yet finished the campaign because of bad weather conditions.

This year Belarus has managed to expand its export geography. An example of this can be the opening of a modern plant for the production of Belarusian tractors in Tatarstan and the governmental visit made to this country on 14-15 May.

The export of Belarusian goods in January-March 2010 was 129.2 per cent on January-March 2009.

The rate of growth of capital investments was 100.2 per cent on the same period last year.

The average monthly inflation in Belarus in January-April 2010 was 0.8 per cent.

According to the Prime Minister, everything necessary is now in place to ensure a robust expansion of the national economy on a monthly basis in order to accomplish by the end of this five-year period the objectives set by the President of Belarus.