Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 8 December (BelTA) – The establishment of an integration development platform will help products jointly made by Belarus and Russia to reach third-country markets. President of the Russian state corporation Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank) Sergei Gorkov made the statement after meeting with First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vasily Matyushevsky on 8 December, BelTA has learned.

On 8 December the Belarusian government, Russian Vnesheconombank, the Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus (DBRB), the Eximbank of Russia, and BelVEB Bank signed a memorandum of intent to create an integration development platform.

The Vnesheconombank President explained: “Our job is to create a platform that will help joint products reach third countries apart from allowing us to increase export between Belarus and Russia. Thus, the platform will allow increasing the export volume but best of all it will create a synergy. It will unite all the participants of the process. This is why the idea is innovative.” The executive reminded that the creation of such a platform had been suggested by the Belarusian government.

First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vasily Matyushevsky stressed that work within the framework of the platform will focus on several avenues including support for mutual export between Belarus and Russia and support for mutual export to third countries, which is particularly important. “Through joint efforts we will be able to find new growth points for the persistent advancement of integration processes in the Union State of Belarus and Russia,” he concluded.

The memorandum of intent to create an integration development platform provides for compiling a list of Belarusian and Russian investment projects that have a high integration potential. The document also provides for effectively using the existing and new instruments to finance the implementation of the investment projects. Efforts will be channeled into improving the legal base that regulates integration processes. Plans have been made to better use the financial and economic potential of the Union State of Belarus and Russia for the sake of advancing economic integration of the two countries, including for the sake of setting up stable interindustry clusters intent on exporting their products to third countries.

A project office for export development has been established in Belarus to take care of this work.

Apart from that, Russian Vnesheconombank, BelVEB Bank, and the Belarusian automobile engineering company BelAZ signed a memorandum of cooperation. “We are starting to work with BelAZ. It is a magnificent company that makes good vehicles, which use some Russian components. BelAZ will be a pilot project for us,” explained Vnesheconombank President Sergei Gorkov.

In line with the document BelAZ will buy products made in Russia, BelAZ products will be exported to Russia, and products made by BelAZ together with Russian companies using manufacturing cooperation schemes will be shipped to third countries.

An agreement on cooperation in organizing the deliveries of Russian automobile industry products to Belarus was signed on 8 December, too. The document was signed by Russian Vnesheconombank, the Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus, BelVEB Bank, and the Russian automaker UAZ. The document provides for mutual consultations on sales of Russian automobile industry products in Belarus. The document also offers ways to finance or co-finance UAZ sales in Belarus, including credit and leasing schemes.

After the documents were signed, BelVEB Bank Chairman of the Board Nikolai Luzgin remarked that there is yet no concrete list of investment projects that will be implemented using the integration platform. “We are working on it. We’ve requested data about the companies, which are most involved in integration processes, from Belarusian and Russian government agencies,” he explained. A working group of representatives of Belarus and Russia will be set up soon to implement the memorandum of intent to create an integration development platform.

In January-September 2016 the total volume of integration projects financed by BelVEB Bank reached the equivalent of $736 million. The share of Belarusian-Russian projects was as high as 47.3%. The volume of credit support granted to Belarusian companies intent on selling their products to Russia went beyond $210 million in January-October 2016. The bank allocated $286 million to finance the acquisition of merchandise, raw materials, and equipment from Russia in January-October 2016.