MINSK, 17 March (BelTA) – The acquisition of a part of the infrastructure in the Klaipeda port allowed Belarus increase its cargo shipment, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Guryanov said in an interview to the Lithuanian newspaper Verslo Zinios. The full article has been published on the official site of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, BelTA has learned.
“About 35% of the Belarusian cargo is shipped via the port. We have considerably increased our presence using the production capacities of the Klaipeda port. Several years ago the volume of Belarusian cargoes stood at nearly 8.9 million tonnes. Today this figure reaches 13 million tonnes,” Alexander Guryanov said. He believes that it partly related to Belarus’ acquisition of a stake in the Klaipeda port infrastructure. “As we agreed with Lithuania, if we acquire a part of the terminal, we do our best to use it to the maximum. Thus, last year about 93% of the Belarusian potash exported to third countries was shipped via the Klaipeda port,” the Belarusian official said.
Alexander Guryanov also explained what Belarus uses to implement its plans regarding the transit of goods via foreign ports: “We are guided by the economic logic. Thoroughly and objectively we assess the ways to transport our cargoes. We have no access to sea and get a lot of interesting offers for cargo transportation via the ports of the neighboring countries.” The Deputy Foreign Minister of Belarus said that the most attractive offers come from Lithuania and Latvia.