Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 3 October (BelTA) – Belarus would like to raise more investment from Japan, increase the bilateral trade and forge new contacts with the Japanese business community, Belarus’ Deputy Prime Minister Igor Lyashenko said as he met with Chairman of the Japan Association for Trade with Russia and New Independent States (ROTOBO) Shigeru Murayama on 3 October, BelTA has learned.

“The current trade figures (over the seven months this year the bilateral trade made up $81.5 million) are much lower than they could be. The same pertains to direct investment. Its volume is critically small,” Igor Lyashenko said.

According to the vice premier, an action plan of the government will provide for efforts to increase the efficiency of the manufacturing sector and boost its export capacity. This will enable closer contacts with Japanese business people.

During their visit to Belarus, the Japanese delegation is holding talks with senior officials of the Belarusian government and with the local business community. The delegation is touring industrial enterprises and the Chinese-Belarusian Industrial Park Great Stone. “Knowing the reputation of your organization, I am ready to provide assistance to promote viable joint projects,” Igor Lyashenko said.

Shigeru Murayama noted that the economies of Belarus and Japan have a lot in common: the two nations do not abound in natural resources, they both are export oriented and promote various industries, including mechanical engineering. Japan is also well aware of the rapid development of the IT sector in Belarus.

Apart from that, Belarus has a favorable location between the Russian Federation and the European Union, at the crossroads of trade routes, which is an important part of considerations of the Japanese business community, Shigeru Murayama said.

He expressed hope that the ongoing visit of the Japanese delegation to Belarus will give an impetus to bilateral economic contacts. “At present we have very little information about Belarusian manufacturing industry and companies. We believe that we need to forge new ties by holding various forums, conferences and talks. We need to scale up information exchange between our countries. ROTOBO, in turn, is ready to make every possible effort to facilitate this process,” he said.

The Japan Association for Trade with Russia and New Independent States (ROTOBO) is Japan’s only organization authorized to facilitate economic contacts with the CIS member states. ROTOBO has about 200 members, among them are trading companies, insurance companies, manufacturers, banks, industrial associations, passenger and cargo transportation agencies as well as local self-governance institutions.