Events

MINSK, 30 May (BelTA) - The Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry signed a Memorandum on Common Economic Space from Lisbon to Vladivostok, BelTA has learned.

The memorandum has been drawn up by Director of the Schneider Group Ulf Schneider and German political scientist Alexander Rahr. A working group “Common economic space from Lisbon to Vladivostok “ intends to bring together business, business associations and politicians of Eurasia and to promote official dialogue between the European Commission and the Eurasian Economic Commission. The working group includes five major business and industry associations in Europe, several major companies as well as developers of general legislative regulations and standards. Given the continuing relevance of the concept “integration of integrations” for Belarus, the BCCI has acceded to this memorandum.

Co-chair Ulf Schneider noted that the memorandum suggests economic cooperation between the EU and the EAEU. “Belarus will benefit from this because it is a transit country, the bridge between the West and the East. The volume of trade in such a common economic space will grow. But the economic effect of this project will not be immediate. It will take several years. So it’s better to start now,” he said.

The memorandum was signed during the meeting of the Belarusian part of the Belarusian-German Business Cooperation Council. “Belarus should grow to become a logistics center between the East and the West, part of the Silk Road. We should use all our advantages to facilitate the development of logistics services in the country,” said Sergei Novitsky, the co-chairman of the council on behalf of Belarus. “As for the Belarusian-German relations, the main areas of their development are mechanical engineering and the services sector. In our opinion, we need to integrate into big international concerns, and these concerns can place orders with our mechanical engineering companies. We have highly-qualified specialists in the IT sector. International and transnational companies will also be interested in cooperation with Belarus in the logistics sector,” Sergei Novitsky added

Chairman of the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vladimir Ulakhovich said that Belarus has set up 18 councils of business cooperation with different countries. Belarus has gained successful experience in cooperation with Swiss and Austrian partners. “The Belarusian-German Business Cooperation Council was set up several years ago and today we are doing our best to give it a new lease of life, especially taking into account the accession to the Memorandum on Common Economic Space from Lisbon to Vladivostok,” he said.