OREANDA-NEWS. July 13, 2010. Belarus would like to deepen trade and economic relations with the EU, Deputy Premier of Belarus Andrei Kobyakov said as he met with European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy Stepan Fule.

The Belarusian Vice-Premier noted that the EU is Belarus’ strategic trading partner, one of the biggest investors, a major technical aid donor. At the same time, many of the most promising and mutually beneficial cooperation avenues have been neglected so far.

“We need to promote neighbor relations, including trade and economic ties,” Andrei Kobyakov said. This issue has become more relevant as Belarus joined the Customs Union and became the bridge connecting the Customs Union of Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan with the European Union. “We need to jointly look for ways to bring together these two structures,” the Vice-Premier said.

Stepan Fule, in turn, assured the Vice Premier that he will do his utmost to add an impetus to the development of Belarus-EU relations. “I did not specify what impetus it is, but this is what I wanted to discuss with you,” he said.

Also European Commissioner has admitted, that Belarus and the European Union use only 10-20% of the Eastern Partnership capacity.

“The key to ensure that these parameters are better is in your hands. The bilateral dimension of the initiative is the basis of Eastern Partnership and it is where most part of the resources and funds are channeled into,” Stefan Fule said.

The European Union has a range of fundamental issues on which the European Partnership is based. “I am here not to rake up the past. I am here so that we can think together how we can move forward in our relations,” he said.

The EU engagement with Belarus within the EP framework will be commensurate to Belarus’ progress in “meeting the EU expectations in observing the EU key values regarding democracy and human rights,” Stefan Fule said.

In his words, Eastern Partnership is a unique project that can give its member-states much more than just projects and funds. It is an instrument that should help the EU eastern neighbors invigorate their economies, improve the state management system and promote interpersonal relations.

Belarus Vice Premier Andrei Kobyakov, on his part, stressed the importance of the initiative’s application. “We are interested in filling it up with real content in order to build up prosperous and safe Europe,” he said. In his words, Eastern Partnership should help remove barriers in trade, establish good neighborly relations between the partners. “I believe the initiative has enough potential for it. Unfortunately it remains untapped, and the Eastern Partnership development pace is very modest,” he stated.

Belarus is ready to promote Eastern Partnership into a successful and fruitful project, jointly with other countries, Andrei Kobyakov added. “We have started proposing the European Union concrete plans for reaching the aforesaid goals,” he said. The Vice Premier expressed hope that the visit of the European Commissioner to Belarus would give a new impetus to the cooperation between the country and the European Union. He stressed, Belarus remains the EU’s reliable and promising partner and is open to any dialogue.

The diplomatic relations between Belarus and the EU were established in August 1992. In January-April 2010, Belarus’ exports to the EU made up USD2.2 billion, which is about the same as a year before. The trade amounted to USD4.1 billion or 97.4% of the same period a year before, the EU member states accounted for the majority of Belarus’ exports – 44% – in 2009. In January-April 2010, Belarus exported 31% of its commodities to the EU (39%) to Russia.