Opinions & Interviews

Alena Kupchyna said: “Belarus has been under the political and economic pressure of the West for nearly 20 years now. However, despite the various sanctions and restrictions the country rapidly develops and is the leader among the European Union’s eastern neighbors in many areas. According to statistics of the European Union and the World Bank, our prosperity has been on the rise in the last few years. After Azerbaijan, which has rich oil deposits, Belarus has always been second in the region in terms of GDP per capita and purchasing power parity. For all intents and purposes, Belarus is the obvious leader from the point of view of human development and social progress. The falling trust in the European Union as a partner and lost opportunities for cooperation in finding answers to common challenges represent the only apparent negative effect of the sanctions.”

“At the same time we hope that the European Union will revise its policy towards Belarus and will help us enhance the economic dimension of our independence via access to resources of European financial institutions such as the European Investment Bank and the EBRD. We hope that the European Union will support our accession to the WTO. It will benefit both Belarus and the European Union and, to a large extent, the regional stability,” noted the Belarusian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Speaking about the overall level of Belarus’ economic development at present, the official noted that the last 12 months was a difficult period for the Belarusian economy and the national currency. “The unprecedented complication of the situation in the region due to the Ukrainian crisis, which led to the exchange of sanctions between Russia and the West, negatively affected the development of the global and regional trade, prompted the recession and devaluation of the currencies in neighboring countries. In the end the factors resulted in the shrinkage of our traditional export markets,” said the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.

In her words, efforts meant to create a favorable investment climate have demonstrated their effectiveness. “The construction of the factory to make electric trains in Belarus by the Swiss company Stadler in November 2014 is one of the most obvious examples of our successful cooperation with foreign investors,” reminded Alena Kupchyna.

She pointed out that the Belarus government is busy looking for ways to preserve the comparatively high living standards through constant development. “It includes the very high education standards, access to healthcare, the stable labor market (unemployment is kept at 1%), and the high level of personal security, which is very important,” explained the official.

The Belarusian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs went on saying she believes that the process of reformation and liberalization of the Belarusian economy was effective. Positive international ratings prove it. In accordance with the Doing Business 2015 report compiled by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation, Belarus ranks 57 out of 189 countries. “Our strategic goal is to enter the top 30,” she concluded.