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FM: Belarus, EU want to remove remaining trade barriers

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BRUSSELS, 14 May (BelTA) – Belarus and the European Union are determined to remove the remaining trade barriers, Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei said during the high-level conference held on 14 May on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the European Union’s Eastern Partnership Initiative (EaP), BelTA has learned.

“The European Union has become our second biggest trading partner. We are an open economy and depend on the situation on external markets; therefore it is very important for us to maintain good trade and economic relations with the European Union. We welcome the positive trend, but I believe that we still have to do a lot in this field. We hope that we will be able to remove the remaining trade barriers,” Vladimir Makei said.

He noted that last year the share of the European Union in Belarus’ export rose from 26% to over 30%. This is in keeping with Belarus’ efforts to diversify its trade and economic relations.

The minister noted that Belarus expanded its cooperation with European financial institutions, including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank. “It is important to cooperate with these financial institutions on matters like privatization. We are aware of negative examples of some neighboring countries where privatization was poorly planned, which gave rise to oligarchs. We would like to avoid such negative consequences, we would like to use positive practices,” Vladimir Makei said.

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