Business news

MINSK, 12 October (BelTA) – Over the course of five years the Russian Agency for Export Credit and Investment Insurance (EXIAR), which is part of the Russian Export Center group, has supported Russian-Belarusian projects via direct financing and installment payments to the tune of about $3.5 billion. Alexei Tyupanov, EXIAR Chairman of the Board, Director General, made the statement during the roundtable session held in BelTA’s press center on 12 October to discuss the role of export and credit insurance in the Belarusian economy.

Alexei Tyupanov noted: “It is quite a serious figure for Belarus-Russia trade. Particularly if we exclude the oil and gas component of Russia’s export, which EXIAR does not have the authority to support. We have a broad field of cooperation as it is: electronics, automobile engineering, power engineering, and many other branches of the economy unrelated to the export of raw materials. This year EXIAR intends to raise the total support for exports other than raw materials to about $8 billion. Belarus will account for at least $1 billion.”

Apart from supporting sales of Russian products to Belarus EXIAR takes part in financing the projects, which are important for Belarus. The agency has already backed projects to build a tinned steel factory in Miory and an enterprise to make technical carbon in Mogilev. They will be import-substituting and export-oriented enterprises. EXIAR is now considering supporting several power engineering infrastructure projects. Thus, the agency is ready to consider financing the development of the Minsk National Airport. The possibility of partaking in the modernization of the Belarusian railways is under consideration.

“We are interested in integrated projects that will advance the country’s development. This is why apart from major infrastructure projects we lend a helping hand to manufacturing cooperation between Belarusian and Russian companies. This kind of cooperation boasts a high added value. We have a great potential for cooperation involving Iran and a number of other areas,” stressed the EXIAR Director General.

Alexei Tyupanov noted that while expanding the international regional network EXIAR takes a close look at the existing and potential volume of cooperation. “The fact that the EXIAR’s first and so far the only foreign representative office has been opened in Minsk indicates that cooperation with Belarus is of strategic importance for us,” stressed the EXIAR Director General.