OREANDA-NEWS. April 3, 2009. Belarus and Serbia can increase the bilateral trade dramatically, First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko said as he met with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Regional Development of Serbia Mladjan Dinkic in Minsk, reported the Official website www.government.by.

Vladimir Semashko stressed that Belarus views Serbia as one of its key partners in the Balkans. The bilateral trade has been growing recently. Last year it was up 20%. Yet, in absolute terms, the trade, which was US64.8 million in 2008, is not high and does not meet the existing potential, Vladimir Semashko said.

Today the sides are set to sign an intergovernmental agreement on free trade. “The document will promote the development of mutual trade and increase the trade dramatically,” he said.

Vladimir Semashko is confident that the visit of the Serbian delegation to Minsk will give a new impetus to the development of bilateral relations. “We are ready to discuss all possible avenues of interaction,” he said.

Most promising areas of cooperation are power engineering, telecommunications, setting up joint agriculture ventures and others. “For our part we see a range certain joint projects that can be implemented. For example, this can be joint manufacture of Belarusian tractors in Serbia,” Vladimir Semashko said. For several years the Minsk Automobile Plant (MAZ trademark) has been supplying buses to Serbia. MAZ and its Serbian partner are implementing a joint project to start the production of gas fueled buses in Serbia.

According to Vladimir Semashko, it is necessary to resume the work of the Belarusian-Serbian trade and economic commission. The commission operated efficiently promoting the implementation of the joint projects. The First Vice Premier has proposed holding a session of the commission in Minsk in several months. The Belarusian-Serbian Business Cooperation Council may become an efficient instrument of the cooperation as well, the official added.

In turn, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Regional Development of Serbia Mladjan Dinkic noted that the two countries have long-standing friendly relations. Belarus and Serbia reached a high level of the political cooperation but the economic cooperation was slow, he added. “We will be able to strengthen our relations by means of cooperation and joint advancement to foreign markets,” Mladjan Dinkic underscored.

The trade and economic cooperation between Belarus and Serbia has been developing rapidly. In 2007-2008, the bilateral trade rose 1.7 times, the Belarusian export 2.5 times. In 2008, the trade between the two countries made up US 64.8 million (up 20.3% as against 2007). The Belarusian export hit US 41.4 million (up 26.7%). Belarus had a surplus in trade with Serbia at the amount of US 23.4 million. In January 2009, the bilateral trade amounted to US 3.49 million, export US 1.97 million, import US 1.52 million.

Belarus exported white salt, potash fertiliser, articles made of ferrous metal, tractors, bearings and washing machines. Serbia’s major imports to Belarus were raw materials and constituent parts necessary for various branches of the Belarusian economy.

In 2008, the Serbian investments in the Belarusian economy reached US 47,000. There are five companies with Serbian capital in Belarus (two joint ventures and three foreign companies). Belarus has set up a dealer network in Serbia to promote goods produced by the Minsk Tractor Works (spare parts), Lidselmash, Bobruiskagromash, Gomselmash, Belshina, Amkodor, MAZ. Since 2006, the Serbian Vulovic Transport Company has been assembling Belarusian dump trucks in Serbia.

A joint venture to assemble Belarusian tractors is expected to be set up in Serbia. It was stated by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Regional Development of Serbia Mladjan Dinkic during his meeting with First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko in Minsk on March 31.

“We would like to organize such production facility not only for the Serbian market but also for the export of tractors to the markets of third countries,” Mladjan Dinkic said.

A Serbian delegation including representatives of big companies has visited the Minsk Tractor Works.

According to him, many Serbian businessmen intend to cooperate with Belarusian business circles in various avenues. In particular, they are interested in cooperation in the pharmaceutical industry, agriculture, foodstuffs sales, investment area, participation in construction projects, energy area.

“I am sure that in the future we will have more opportunities and areas for the cooperation,” Mladjan Dinkic said. According to him, the Belarusian-Serbian agreement on free trade which is expected to be signed today will contribute to significant boosting the bilateral trade.

Belarus and Serbia signed an intergovernmental free trade agreement in Minsk on March 31. The document was signed by Foreign Minister of Belarus Sergei Martynov and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Regional Development of Serbia Mladjan Dinkic.

“This is a document of fundamental important. The document creates the prerequisites for boosting bilateral trade,” Vladimir Semashko said. “In a year the Belarus-Serbia trade will be no less than US 100 million,” he said.

According to Vladimir Semashko, the sides discussed certain projects and identified the forms of future cooperation. “We have agreed to resume the work of the Belarusian-Serbian trade-economic commission. It will have its session in Minsk or Belgrade no later than September,” he said. An agreement was reached to create a Business Cooperation Council to promote interaction between business-communities of the two countries.

For his part, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Regional Development of Serbia Mladjan Dinkic said that the free trade agreement will enable Belarus and Serbia to increase the trade at least five times. “This document opens up an opportunity to export products duty-free from Serbia to Belarus and from Belarus to Serbia except for some types of products. We have good prospects in exporting products to third countries,” he said. Serbia has signed free trade agreement with Russia, EU countries, Balkan states, he added.

The sides also signed an intergovernmental agreement on temporary employment of citizens of Belarus in Serbia and citizens of Serbia in Belarus. According to the Vice-Premier, there are many opportunities of creating joint Belarusian-Serbian companies.