Lukashenko, Yushchenko meet in Gomel

GOMEL, May 6 (BelTA) - A meeting between Presidents of Belarus and Ukraine Alexander Lukashenko and Viktor Yushchenko has started in Gomel. An one-to-one meeting is taking place in the Palace of the Rumiantsevs and Paskevichs. The previous meeting of the presidents took place on January 20 in Chernigov. Then a memorandum was signed between the government, the National Bank of Belarus and the government, the National Bank of Ukraine to elaborate the measures to boost bilateral trade and economic cooperation amid the financial crisis. On March 27 Chernigov played host to a session of the consultative board of the National Banks of Belarus and Ukraine. The sides reached agreements on joint action to ensure free movement of hryvnas between the correspondent accounts of the banks of Belarus in the banks of Ukraine. In 2008, Belarus-Ukraine trade made up $4.9 billion. The export to Ukraine reached $2.8 billion, up 1.9 times, import - $2.1 billion. The bilateral trade has been growing steadily for the recent six years. For the time being the trade has grown more than seven times. In October 2008 Ukraine faced the global financial and economic crisis which hampered lending and affected production. As a result, in January-March 2009 the trade between Belarus and Ukraine fell 54.8% as against the same point last year to make up $547.8 million. The Belarusian export reduced by almost 64% to $276.4 million while the Ukrainian supplies to the Belarusian market decreased by 40%. The deliveries of the Belarusian equipment, trucks, potash fertilizers dramatically dropped due to the present day unfavourable conditions. Although the demand is weak now, MTZ tractor sells well in Ukraine. Belarus has stepped up the supplies of dairy products and butterto Ukraine. The most efficient area of cooperation is setting up joint assembly facilities of tractors, utilities equipment, elevators and sowing-machines. Belarus is still interested in expanding joint assembling facilities in Ukraine, strengthening cooperation in the energy area. Belarus hopes to take part in the implementation of the Ukrainian state programmes including in the agricultural engineering.

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