Events

MINSK, 25 July (BelTA) – Belarus is set to cancel temporary licensing of goods imported from the countries that signed the CIS free-trade agreement of 18 October 2011, Spokesman for the Belarusian Foreign Ministry Dmitry Mironchik said at a press conference on 25 July, BelTA has learnt.

Dmitry Mironchik reminded that following the market survey conducted in April-May 2014, the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus passed resolutions (Resolution No. 365 as of 18 April 2014 and Resolutions No. 468 and 469 as of 16 May 2014) to apply licenses to certain products imported to Belarus. These are cement, glass, beer and several types of pasta and confectionery.

“These decisions were made by the government to prevent losses that could be incurred by domestic producers as a result of shady import and to sort out the pricing,” the Spokesman noted.

“In April-July we have been constantly monitoring the situation with the licensable products, in particular, those imported from the CIS member states, with which we signed free-trade agreements. The monitoring has revealed that the negative trends that were in place when the resolutions were passed have been gone. Thus, we no longer need to license the products coming from the countries that signed the free-trade agreement of 18 October 2011,” Dmitry Mironchik said.

“In this regard on 24 July the Belarusian Prime Minister signed Resolution No. 719 that will remove all the fears associated with the access of products of the CIS countries to the Belarusian market,” he said.

Dmitry Mironchik noted that Belarus has never tried to evade talks and has always discussed the apprehensions of the partners. “A good example proving this point are the Belarus-Ukraine consultations promptly held in Minsk on 18 July to discuss in detail the positions of the partners,” the Spokesman added.