Business news

MINSK, 23 March (BelTA) – The economies of Belarus and Georgia are complementary, and this plays an important role in the development of the bilateral partnership, Belarusian Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov said at the opening of the Georgian-Belarusian Business Forum, BelTA has learned.

“The complementarity of our economies plays an important role in the development of the Georgian-Belarusian partnership. Georgia exports food products which we cannot produce due to climatic conditions. Belarus, in turn, exports a wide range of engineering products which are not manufactured in Georgia,” Andrei Kobyakov said.

In this regard, setting up plants to assemble Belarusian farm machines and lifting equipment in Georgia seems promising, Andrei Kobyakov said. “Other Belarusian products are also in demand in the Georgian market. These are dairy, woodworking products, tires, medicines, fertilizers,” Andrei Kobyakov said.

He believes that Belarus and Georgia have something to offer each other in the services sector as well. The number of Belarusian tourists in Georgia has been increasing exponentially. They holiday in traditional resorts and also use the opportunities for active recreation. “For our part, we have a well-developed agro and eco-tourism industry, and offer ample opportunities for medical tourism. The IT sector, which has been rapidly growing in Belarus recently and which already reached the world level, will also be interesting for Georgian partners. I think as bilateral contacts expand, the list of possible areas for cooperation will grow longer as well,” Andrei Kobyakov noted.

In 2015 the trade between Belarus and Georgia totaled $44.9 million (which accounted for 69.9% of the trade in 2014). Exports totaled $22.4 million (96.8%), imports came at $22.5 million (54.8%). Belarus had a deficit of $112,000 in trade with Georgia.

In 2015 Belarus’ major exports were tobacco, medicines, wooden sleepers, timber, furniture, milk, dry and concentrated cream, tires, electrical transformers, mixed mineral fertilizers, tractors and trucks, pumps, woodworking products.

Belarus imported nuts, vegetables, mineral water, grape wine, hard drinks, ferrous alloys, and oil products.

In January 2016, the trade between the two countries totaled $2,624,900, up by 8.7% from the same period of 2015. The export increased by 33%, while the import dropped by 20%. Belarus had a foreign trade surplus of $853,300.