Collective response

EAEU member states need to collectively respond to the sanctions pressure – as stated by Belarus’ Deputy Prime Minister, Igor Petrishenko   

Before his meeting with a Member of the Board (Minister) for Trade of the Eurasian Economic Commission, Andrey Slepnev, the Deputy Prime Minister noted, “We will focus on a topical issue: our joint actions, as the EAEU states, which we can apply in case of sanctions pressure on an EAEU member. This topic was discussed at the level of presidents and heads of government, with relevant instructions voiced.”

According to Mr. Petrishenko, Belarus strongly supports integration co-operation. “Implementation of the strategic directions of the Eurasian integration development until 2025 is very topical for us. Jointly with the specialised minister, we plan to discuss implementation of the agreements on a free trade zone with the EAEU and some other countries, including Egypt. This market is very important to us – for our products to be present there,” he said.

Speaking of trade and economic co-operation with China, the official noted, “This is a topical issue. Moreover, we are discussing the preparation and development of the Eurasian Agro-Express project which envisages supplies of EAEU food to China and Uzbekistan. Russia is currently realising this project but a number of Belarusian companies are ready to join the process. Actually, it deals not only with food supplies but a whole logistics chain for the supply of our products to the Chinese market.”

Electric transport is also in focus of attention and, according to Belarus’ Deputy Prime Minister, the country is interested in slashing to zero import customs duties on passenger cars, so that people can comfortably import such vehicles and pay no additional fees since these technologies are yet too expensive. The issue of zeroing the duty rates for BelAZ when importing engines also needs attention.