Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 20 December (BelTA) – The projects to upgrade enterprises paid off for Belarus in 2017, Belarus’ Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Semashko said at the joint session of the two houses of the Belarusian Parliament, BelTA has learned.

“Our choice, our strategy of building new plants and upgrading the existing enterprises brought us benefits this year,” Vladimir Semashko noted. He said that many of the manufacturing facilities were actually built from scratch. According to the vice premier, the surplus of foreign trade in timber has increased 2.6 times over the past five years. In 2016 Belarus earned more than $600 million. According to preliminary data, the surplus will amount to $820 million in 2017. “The country has started to earn big money,” the vice premier said.

Vladimir Semashko also added that he expects a significant increase in the industrial production in 2018 and beyond primarily thanks to the commissioning of new manufacturing capacities and modernization of the existing enterprises.