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Belarus PM cautions against overproduction in Eurasian Economic Union
MINSK, 5 February (BelTA) – When developing the industrial potential of the EAEU countries, we need to avoid the crisis of overproduction, Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko said at the meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council, BelTA has learned.
The Belarusian head of government noted that Belarus carefully studied the address of the Kazakhstan president to the heads of the member states of the union and also the priorities of Kazakhstan's presidency in the EAEU. “We fully support the proposals outlined in the document regarding industrial cooperation, joint ventures and cross-border infrastructure projects. This has a huge potential for synergy,” said Roman Golovchenko. “It is no secret that our interests intersect in terms of a number of sensitive industrial goods, but if we intensify the work on the joint projects and effectively use the resources of the member states I am sure we will resolve these problems."
The prime minister urged to pay special attention to import substitution, especially with regard to strategic products and technologies. “Under any pretexts, the so-called collective West tries to slow down our economic development, impose sanctions, block financing and implementation of important infrastructure projects, prohibit the transfer of technologies, stop supplying goods and spare parts. The situation is similar with access to foreign markets. The outside world is changing rapidly, protectionism is increasing, and this is especially true for our Western partners. Therefore, I think it is time we included the issues that we thoroughly considered one-on-one into the agenda. Given the current realities, we need not only to strive for new trade agreements. We also need to be able to defend our rights in relations with third countries, to defend as a bloc, as a union," he said. In this context it is important to have a mechanism for applying retaliatory measures in the EAEU when the standard dispute resolution procedure formalized in the international treaties is blocked due to unforeseen circumstances or unfair actions of third countries, Roman Golovchenko said.
The Belarusian head of government also stressed that Belarus stands for further improvement of the mechanisms to apply special protective and countervailing measures in trade with third countries, allowed by the WTO rules. “Today we discussed the issues related to the availability of strategic raw materials and scrap of ferrous and non-ferrous metals in the metallurgical industry of the union. I am confident that we can and should add maximum value to our raw materials with within the union, so that the world's leading economies do not see the EAEU as some kind of raw materials appendage. Developing the industrial potential of the EAEU countries, we must strive to avoid an overproduction crisis,” stressed Roman Golovchenko. In his opinion, it is extremely important to develop new markets. That is why export promotion measures are becoming increasingly relevant. “With the common support from the EEC, the Eurasian Development Bank, national export promotion institutions, governments and foreign offices of the EAEU members, our exporters will feel more confident in entering the unknown markets of the so-called distant arc countries. Thus, the main areas of industrial cooperation within the EAEU would be filled with new content,” the prime minister said.
Roman Golovchenko noted: “We have advanced in our integration and can begin to coordinate the industrial and agro-industrial policies. Perhaps in the future they will and should become not just coordinated but unified. It is necessary to ensure the parity of interests in the the organization and development of industrial production within the EAEU member countries and thus promote additional export potential.”
The Belarusian head of government stated that the number of barriers to foreign trade was reduced from 19 to 11 during the Belarusian presidency in the EAEU in 2020. Belarus sincerely welcomes Kazakhstan’s intention to continue the same productive work in this extremely important area for further development of Eurasian integration.
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