Business news

21 Aug 2019

Russian Export Center to support Belarus’ export to third countries

MINSK, 21 August (BelTA) – The Russian Export Center intends to support Belarus-Russia integration projects on advancing to the markets of third countries. Belarus Prime Minister Sergei Rumas met with Director General of the Russian Export Center Andrei Slepnev on 21 August to discuss prospects of mutually beneficial cooperation in this area, BelTA has learned.

“We should start taking steps to promote export to third countries, especially regarding products with a large share of Russia’s local content,” Sergei Rumas noted.

For example, plans are in place to sign a cooperation agreement with Eximgarant of Belarus, which will help lower costs of financing thanks to reducing the number of intermediaries, and will facilitate development of trade and export operations. “The Belarusian government welcomes this agreement. The limits of funds you have reserved ($500 million for Eximgarant of Belarus) will fully satisfy our needs at the beginning,” Sergei Rumas said.

According to him, Belarus takes interest in Russia’s experience of promoting export, because the systems of the two countries differ substantially. “We focus only on financial documents. The Russian Export Center is a state institution and provides both financial and non-financial support, which makes it a sort of a one-stop shop for exporters,” Sergei Rumas added.

In turn, Andrei Slepnev said that one of the promising cooperation areas is promoting export to Egypt. The Russian Export Center has been authorized to implement the project to establish a Russian industrial zone in Egypt. The project has been given the status of a national project. It provides for setting up an industrial facility of 525 hectares in the East Port Said Industrial Zone located in the Suez Canal Special Economic Zone. The project will enable Russian exporters and suppliers to localize production in Egypt.

Andrei Slepnev said that the Russian Export Center is ready to support Belarusian enterprises which eye the African market. Apart from the agreement with Eximgarant of Belarus, the center intends to conclude an agreement on financing projects with Belarusbank.

The Russian Export Center is a state institute established to support non-commodity export. Last year, the center provided around $19 billion to promote Russian export, and $1.33 billion to finance joint trade operations with Belarus. All in all, the center has already assigned $5.5 billion to finance joint trade operations. “These operations include not only supplies of Russian equipment components but also joint export to third countries. We are also working on several new projects,” Andrei Slepnev noted.

The Russian Export Center Group is part of the Russian State Development Corporation VEB.RF. The group incorporates the Russian Agency for Export Credit and Investment Insurance and Eximbank of Russia.