Business news

MINSK, 3 October (BelTA) – The Office of the Coordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities (OCEEA) will help promote trade in Belarus, Deputy Coordinator Ermelinda Meksi said during the consultative mission held in Minsk to outline cooperation areas with the country, BelTA learned from the OSCE press service.

“Trade liberalization means both challenges and opportunities for Belarus that has a strong export potential, especially in agriculture, food industry and mechanical engineering. We praise the opportunity of developing closer cooperation with Belarusian counterparts and assist reforms to simplify trading procedures in the country within our project on economic interconnectivity,” said Ermelinda Meksi.

The two-day consultative mission to outline cooperation areas between the OSCE and Belarus was held to support the country’s efforts in streamlining trading procedures. The delegation of the Office of the Coordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities held a number of consultations with the top-ranking representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the State Customs Committee, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the National Academy of Sciences, and the UNDP Bureau in Belarus.

The participants of the event discussed the progress made in the implementation of trade simplification measures for Belarus and outlined the current tasks that can be addressed jointly.

Areas for future cooperation can include development of IT and automation, paperless trading environment and a one-stop-shop integrated system for export and import operations, expansion of international cooperation in the standardization and technical regulations of the product certification.