Opinions & Interviews

According to the Premier, today Belagro can truly be considered as the landmark exhibition project of Belarus. This is the biggest exhibition in the country, which is not surprising as the country has set an ambitious goal to reach $7 billion in agricultural exports. Andrei Kobyakov believes that there are all preconditions to fulfill this task.

"In general, holding exhibitions of this kind (this year’s expo features more than 500 companies from 23 countries) is a kind of recognition of the Republic of Belarus's leadership in agriculture in the post-Soviet space,” Andrei Kobyakov noted. Because a country that is unable to manufacture and refresh the range of exhibition products will not be able to ensure wide participation and cause such a strong interest among foreign partners,” he noted. “Since Belagro is already 25 years old and the number of participants grow from year to year is a kind of vote of confidence, the positive assessment, including on the part of foreign partners, of the country and its achievements,” the Prime Minister said.

Andrei Kobyakov got familiar with the expo, talked to the producers. He noted that the agricultural industry in Belarus is rather diversified. The country manufactures a wide range of products. "The annual number of visitors (about 60,000) confirms the interest in these products. This shows that the country has chosen the right strategy: which was to ensure the food security first and then to increase exports,” said the Prime Minister.

The international Belagro expo opened in Minsk on 2 June and will last till 6 June. These days Minsk is also playing host to the Agro-Industrial Week and two more international forums, namely Belferma 2015 and Belproduct 2015. Among the exhibitors are companies from Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, China, Poland, Russia, Slovenia, Ukraine, France, Czech Republic, and Switzerland.