News & Events in Belarus

The head of state underlined Belarus’ keen interest in the movement of goods across its territory from the Asia-Pacific Region to Europe. “We have supported the Chinese President’s initiative to develop the Silk Road Economic Belt. We are setting up big logistics centers which are of interest not only to China, Belarus and our neighbors but also to other countries along this transport route,” Alexander Lukashenko said.

According to the President, the competitive edge in the international trade largely depends on the quality of goods, prices, selling skills, and also, to some extent, on the speed of customs procedures. “This greatly effects the country’s transit attractiveness and its trade growth, and, hence, the size of its national budget and new jobs. A number of initiatives from the Belarusian customs agencies deserve attention in this respect. One of them is to found an institute of the authorized economic operator that will work with entrepreneurs who guarantee business integrity. The second initiative pertains to a large-scale application of information technology,” the head of state said.

The President stressed that “the issues related to the handling of the goods traffic, cooperation between the customs services and business, interaction between border services, law enforcement bodies can not be efficiently dealt with within one state alone.”

The head of state expressed confidence that the decisions adopted at the 64^th session of the CIS council of heads of the customs services will promote integration and further economic development of the CIS countries. Alexander Lukashenko also said: “You can fully rely on us not just during the current session but also throughout your further professional activity. We have warm regard for our neighbors and all other countries. It is important for us from the pragmatic point of view as well. We are a transit state and it is vital for us to cooperate with all of you, our closest neighbors and, first of all, the countries with which we were part of one state once.”

The President stressed that the mentality of the Belarusian people plays the key role here. “We are ready to help any state, any nation as long as this meets our interests,” said the head of state.

Alexander Lukashenko thanked the heads of the customs services for their visit to Belarus and expressed confidence that they will see a lot in Belarus while Belarus will be able to adopt their practices as well.