OREANDA-NEWS. January 16, 2009. Belarus and Ukraine are planning to reach USD 7 billion in the mutual trade, First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told reporters in Gomel on January 15 while commenting on the results of his working meeting with First Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine Alexander Turchinov.

According to Vladimir Semashko, “some five years ago in an interview to the Ukrainian journalists I spoke about the prospects of increasing the volumes of our mutual trade up to USD 5 billion. This figure has been reached.”

The First Deputy Prime Minister has stressed that the economies of Belarus and Ukraine are closely interrelated. “We need Ukrainian component parts and materials. Belarusian products are in great demand on the market of our south neighbour. The aforesaid push us towards active cooperation,” Vladimir Semashko said.

On January 15, Belarus and Ukraine signed an agreement on elaborating a set of measures to intensify mutual trade and economic relations in view of the global financial and industrial crisis. According to Vladimir Semashko, these measures are likely to promote the development of trade between the two countries.

Over the last five years the Belarusian-Ukrainian trade grew 4.3 times – from USD 705.6 million in 2003 to more than USD 3 billion in 2007. In January-November 2008, the trade between Belarus and Ukraine reached USD 4.7 billion, 76% up from the same point of 2007. Belarusian exports to Ukraine grew 2.1 times up to USD 2.7 billion. Ukrainian exports to Belarus increased by 43% to total almost USD 2 billion. Over the eleven months of 2008 Belarus posted trade surplus of USD 735 million.