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Belarus seeks to expand its economic presence in Brazil

MINSK, 20 September (BelTA) – Belarus will expand its economic presence in Brazil, Sergei Lukashevich, the newly-appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Belarus to Brazil, told reporters on 20 September, BelTA has learned.

“Brazil is a locomotive of Latin America, a country that is one of the twenty biggest trading partners of Belarus,” the new head of the diplomatic mission said. “Our presence in Latin America is not so big. Nevertheless, this region is very important taking into consideration our new policy to intensify cooperation with distant countries. The president noted that it is necessary to expand our presence there, and we will think of ways to do it,” the ambassador said.

The diplomat noted that the embassy in Brazil is strongly determined to collaborate with Belarusian enterprises. “We should explore the existing market niches and think how Belarus can benefit from working on this large market. Let me remind you that Brazil has 211 million people, $1.3 trillion of GDP,” he said.

Belarus has long been exporting potash fertilizers to Brazil. In addition, some of beer brewed in Brazil is made of Belarusian malt. According to the diplomat, Gomselmash is successfully making inroads into this market, as it supplies corn threshing attachments to this country. “These are our niches; we have long planned to take them. We will keep working on it,” the diplomat said.

Sergei Lukashevich emphasized that one of the areas of bilateral cooperation is the supply of Brazil’s Embraer aircraft to the Belavia national air carrier. Belavia is already operating 12 such jets.

“It is important for us to expand Belarus’ economic presence in Brazil. This is an interesting region, a strong economic cluster with its own approaches to cooperation. Of course, we don’t need to export beef and matches there, they make such products on their own. We should find the niches that our products can take,” Sergei Lukashevich added.

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