Export challenges: step up and accelerate

Head of State Aleksandr Lukashenko held a meeting on the export of Belarusian goods

Photo by BELTA

“Last year we managed to overcome the negative trends and achieve positive results in terms of money in terms of exports. Of course, money decides everything, but we would like, as they say, to increase exports by the piece,” said the President. “By the piece means that we sold tons and pieces of tractors, cars, potash fertilizers, oil products less than in 2021. Due to the fact that there has been a sharp increase in prices for the goods that we sell, we have more or less positive results in exports. But the fact that we have not reached the expected level individually and by tons is evidence that we cannot be complacent. We need to think about how to increase exports. Export is a currency without which the country and the economy cannot live, especially since Belarus has an export-oriented economy. We will have to sell half of what we produce in order to live normally.”
Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that in connection with the attempts to strangle Belarus last year, the existing logistics were violated by sanctions. It was necessary to look for new logistical ways.

“At least what you asked me to solve at the level of the President of the Russian Federation in order to open ports for us, I believe that all issues have been resolved. The only issue that remains is to start shipping in these ports. Although we have already started shipping something. We need to build these ports faster, bring them up to a certain level and trade through our own ports,” said the Belarusian leader.

Nikolai Snopkov, First Deputy Prime Minister, told journalists about the results of the meeting. Despite the fact that annual economic indicators will be calculated by the end of January, it is already clear that at the end of 2022, in monetary terms, exports reached the pre-sanction level. Moreover, a record positive balance was obtained in foreign trade — $4.5 billion. Nikolai Snopkov explained, “This is actually a historical figure, and it is very important. It forms stability in the foreign exchange market, security of the country’s gold and foreign exchange reserves. In fact, it creates stability and tranquillity in the financial sector in the country as a whole.”
Answering the question whether the rhetoric of Western countries regarding Belarusian mineral fertilizers is changing, Nikolai Snopkov explained very clearly, “In fact, everything is simple: politics is politics, and business is business. Fertilizers are food, food is the stability of the countries that buy our fertilizers. Markets are taking our fertilizers, traditional markets are taking it on the rise.”
Media representatives also touched upon the topic of cooperation with Lithuanian ports. Recall that due to Western sectoral sanctions against Belarus, since December 2021, the transshipment of Belarusian potash fertilizers through the Baltic ports was actually stopped. Recently, the Minister of Communications and Transport of Lithuania, Marius Skuodis, on the air of the radio station Ziniu Radijas, announced the losses of the port of Klaipeda: preliminary results for 2022 show a decrease in cargo transshipment by 21 percent. The greatest losses are related to the fact that the port refused to transship Belarusian fertilizers in the light of international sanctions.
Answering the question of journalists about whether there were any signals from Lithuania about the return of cooperation through the port infrastructure, Nikolai Snopkov noted, “Regarding the Baltic ports, I will say in non-economic terms: I feel sorry for them. In fact, I feel sorry for the guys who were successfully doing business. And what happened to them... One can only regret. This is the first moment. Second moment. We will consider if we receive signals about the Baltic ports (Klaipeda, Ventspils). Let’s look at the conditions that will be offered to us. Today it is no longer essential. To be honest, thanks to the titanic work of the President, we were able not to spoil the situation. Today, we provide port infrastructure with all the necessary exports of Belarus (80 percent of these are oil products and potash fertilizers).”

Based on materials of sb.by and belta.by