Belarus, EU are interested in developing economic relations, Vadim Popov says

Belarus and the European Union are mutually interested in the further development of economic relations, Chairman of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus Vadim Popov said in an interview to May edition of the magazine “Belaruskaya Dumka”. “When somebody is trying to label our products as being noncompetitive, unpopular and low-quality, it can be opposed to the following figures”: 44-46% of the Belarusian export accounts for the EU member states. It means that our products are in demand,” Vadim Popov said. It is not only industrial or chemical products, but also foodstuffs. Among the major trade partners of Belarus are England, France, Germany, Poland, Italy, the Netherlands. “They actively cooperate with us, because economic interests make policy step aside. Moreover, they realize that the Republic of Belarus is their base for moving eastwards. They cannot just skip over us,” he noted. According to Vadim Popov, Belarus needs economic relations with the European Union not only for trade in goods – Europe has cutting-edge technologies and equipment. “Import substitution is a good thing, but it takes time to set up production and bring the quality to a high level. We have to borrow ready for operation technologies, to purchase the license and to launch mass production. This is why we need to cooperate actively with the European Union, Switzerland and Norway,” the said.