Belarus, Russia reverse negative trends in trade, Sergei Sidorsky says

Belarus and Russia have reversed negative trends in trade, Belarusian Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky noted during his meeting with State Secretary of the Belarus-Russia Union State Pavel Borodin in Minsk on March 17. “We have reversed the negative trends which we saw in 2005-2006 following the introduction of the VAT based on the country of destination principle,” Sergei Sidorsky noted. In 2007, the Belarus-Russia trade hit $26 billion. In January-February 2008, the bilateral trade continued growing. In January, trade reached $2.5 billion, or $1 billion more over the same period last year. According to Sergei Sidorsky, a working team led by Belarusian Vice Premier Andrei Kobyakov and Deputy Chairman of the Russian Government Sergei Naryshkin was set up as instructed by Union State Government. The sides have discussed the concrete issues which will be put on the agenda of a session of the Union Council of Ministers. The Belarusian Prime Minister stressed the importance of existing Union State programmes and adopting new ones. Among those which are set to be considered in Minsk on March 21, he listed the programmes of diesel motor-car construction, production of chemical fibers and “Kosmos-HT”. Sergei Sidorsky also proposed Pavel Borodin to discuss the additional issues which will be introduced on the agenda of the session of the Union State Government. On the whole, some 23 issues will be on the agenda. State Secretary of the Union State Pavel Borodin noted that there is a need to hold joint sessions of the Belarusian and Russian ministries and agencies. At present, an efficient joint work is carried out by the Belarusian State Security Committee and the Russian Federal Security Service, the interior ministries and customs committees. The ministries of finance and economy have practically held no joint session. No joint work has been established by the agricultural ministries of Belarus and Russia, Pavel Borodin highlighted. According to him, such work can be efficient and productive in promoting the Union State integration. According to Pavel Borodin, it was good that the issue of agriculture subsidies was put on the agenda of the forthcoming session. According to him, the USA subsidizes agriculture at the amount of $68 billion, the European Union – EUR 124 billion including through the EU budget –EUR 42 billion. At the same time, Russia subsidizes credit interests rates for agriculture at the amount of $170 million. “As a result, the Russian agriculture was ruined,” Pavel Borodin noted. At present, Russia produces 50% of the total demand for foodstuffs. The Russian Federation does not need to compete with Belarus in the area of deliveries of farm products. On the contrary, we need to cooperate, Pavel Borodin highlighted. Pavel Borodin recalled the problems connected with the approval of the programme on agricultural machinery development. It took two year to pass the programme. We should understand that it is the programme number one for the Union State, he noted.