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Estonia plans to increase trade with Belarus to €300m in 2020
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MINSK, 21 February (BelTA) – Estonia is planning to expand trade with Belarus to €300 million in 2020, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Estonia to Belarus Merike Kokajev told the media ahead of a business meeting of Belarusian business people and the Estonian delegation, BelTA has learned.
“We expect trade with Belarus to rise to €300 million this year. There is every possibility to increase the mutual trade. For example, the trade in 2010 made up €500 million, so we have something to aim at,” the ambassador noted.
According to the diplomat, cooperation in digital economy is the most advantageous and promising. “We have built the e-government and we are ready to help Belarus in this field. We also have digital medicine. We pay taxes online in two seconds. Our students received digital books this year and they do not have to carry huge backpacks,” Ambassador Merike Kokajev said.
Moreover, she believes the two countries need to develop cooperation in engineering and light industry. “We can work more efficiently. I believe there is no sector in which our cooperation cannot be improved. We have held business forum for four years. A lot of enterprises are interested in partnership. Another areas which we should pay attention to are logistics and transportation. For instance, Port of Tallinn has been cooperating with Belarus efficiently for a long time,” the ambassador said.
The forum has brought together 50 Belarusian and 8 Estonian companies working in various branches and industries of economy. Head of the Johvi Office of Estonia's Chamber of Commerce and Industry Margus Ilmjarv noted that attending the meeting are representatives of logistics, transportation, metalworking, textile and aviation industries. “Last time the parties reached certain agreements. Estonian companies found good partners in Belarus which are involved in plastic recycling. One of the companies agreed to buy Belarusian berries for jam production,” he gave examples. Promising areas of cooperation, in his opinion, are IT, metalworking, woodworking and textile industry.
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