Opinions & Interviews

The diplomat remarked that a broad range of matters starting with humanitarian cooperation, the international political agenda and ending with specific Belarus-UAE projects was discussed at the meeting of Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, on 28 October.

“The meeting turned out to be very saturated and long, which is rather unique considering the local traditions,” said the Ambassador. “As a result of the substantial negotiations concrete tasks have been assigned to officials. More intense work will be put into specific avenues for the sake of advancing the bilateral relations to an absolutely new level”.

In particular, the diplomat said that the parties had discussed ways to increase Belarus-UAE trade. The Ambassador remarked that at the meeting instructions were given to earmark for aggressive marketing the groups of commodities that will sell well in the United Arab Emirates. “Apart from having a large domestic market the UAE is a recognized international center of re-export revenues. Most of the goods bound to Africa pass through the UAE, the country’s free zones, free customs warehouses. This is why it is one of the essential promising avenues that Belarusian exporters will explore. In other words, efforts will be put into creating free warehouses in the UAE’s free economic zones for the sake of consequent distribution of merchandise to the neighboring markets,” said the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Belarus to the United Arab Emirates.

At the same time the Ambassador remarked that Belarus boasts good statistics regarding the diversification of export to the United Arab Emirates. “Belarus’ export to the UAE used to rely on individual commodities, individual petrochemical products. Now the product range is rather large and varies from dairy products to truck tractors, corsetry,” said the diplomat.

After a long break MAZ resumed truck supplies to the UAE, Belarusian tires are also exported to the country. “While the export is small in physical terms, it represents a great accomplishment because the UAE market boasts high competition. Virtually all the internationally recognized manufacturers are represented here thanks to the favorable business environment and the lack of tariff-based market protection measures. I am glad that Belarusian manufacturers can and do find their niches in these conditions,” said the diplomat.

The Ambassador also said he saw a serious potential for Belarusian manufacturers of agricultural products and food to work on the UAE market. In his words, not only the UAE but the entire Persian Gulf imports virtually 90% of its food. Roman Golovchenko said he believes that Belarusian producers should work harder to step up their presence on the market. “We already offer quite a representative group of Belarusian foods in the UAE but it should be larger,” stressed the diplomat.

“I think we will be able to considerably increase the export of Belarusian foods soon, first of all, meat and dairy products, vegetables, sausages. Moreover, some Belarusian meat-processing companies are being certified for compliance with Islamic Halal food standards. The compliance will allow them to work virtually in the entire Middle East region and the Islamic world,” noted the Ambassador.