ArmInfo. Belarus hopes to increase trade turnover with Armenia in 2020. Minister of Forestry of the Republic of Belarus Vitaly Drozhzha reported this to journalists on March 12.
The Minister noted that in 2019, mutual trade between the two countries reached a historic high of $ 83 million. "We set the bar for the current year to approach the figures of $ 100 million," he said. Drozhzha informed that on March 12 in Yerevan within the framework of the 14th meeting of the Armenian- Belarusian intergovernmental commission, various aspects of cooperation were discussed. In particular, the Belarusian side proposed to consider the possibility of supplying Belarusian agricultural equipment to the Republic of Armenia, including using such financial mechanisms as leasing. "We also discussed issues of supplying quality food products from Armenia to Belarus>," he said. According to him, very serious work was done at the stage of preparing the corresponding Protocol of the meeting, signed today.
For his part, Minister of Economy of the Republic of Armenia Tigran Khachatryan drew attention to the fact that Armenia and Belarus are extremely productive in cooperating also within the framework of the EAEU. According to him, representatives of the Belarusian business sector are interested in such promising innovative areas of cooperation that will be directed not only to the Armenian domestic market, but also to neighboring countries. At the same time, as was noted, an agreement was reached with Mr. Drozhzha, that everything possible would be done to promote the projects of entrepreneurs of both countries, as well as quick and thorough resolution of issues.
Within the framework of the 14th meeting of the Armenian-Belarusian intergovernmental commission, issues were discussed, in particular the expansion of cooperation in the field of transport, agriculture, education, sports and healthcare. Aspects of developing inter-communal interaction and expanding the legal framework were also touched upon. To note, according to the RA Statistical Committee, in 2019, the trade between Armenia and Belarus amounted to $ 67.5 million with an annual growth of 33.6%. Exports increased by 49.2% to $ 17.8 million, while imports grew by 28.8% to $ 49.7 million.