OREANDA-NEWS. March 21, 2011. Belarus and Kazakhstan should reach a higher level of cooperation, Prime Minister of Belarus Mikhail Myasnikovich told his Kazakhstan counterpart Karim Masimov.

Last year bilateral trade exceeded USD 850 million. Mikhail Myasnikovich pointed to the balanced bilateral trade what proves mutual benefit and interest between the two countries. Yet the potential is much bigger, the Belarusian Premier stressed.

“The Republic of Kazakhstan is not only Belarus’ partner in the Customs Union but also its strategic partner,” Mikhail Myasnikovich said. He noted that the two countries have been steadily developing their trade, economic and innovation cooperation. The Premier assured his counterpart that the new government would continue expanding and strengthening the existing mutual relations.

Mikhail Myasnikovich believes it is important today to step up investment and innovation cooperation with Kazakhstan. He confirmed Belarus’ determination to implement large joint projects.

Over ten joint high-technology projects, including the assembling of highly-efficient tractors Belarus-3022, are currently in progress.

The Belarusian Premier attached special attention to a possibility of developing space cooperation. He believes it is quite important to intensify sci-tech cooperation between the two countries.

“The potential of the Customs Union and the Single Economic Space let us address tasks of global dimension with the use of modern civilized methods,” the Belarusian Premier said.

The Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Karim Masimov believes that Belarus and Kazakhstan should reach USD 1 billion in mutual trade.

According to the Kazakhstan Premier, the implementation of joint projects, development of joint manufactures will form a sound basis for a steady growth of the two economies.

The Kazakhstan PM believes that the potential for stepping up trade both within the bilateral relations and in the Customs Union and the future Single Economic Space is huge. “Belarus is an industrial country with a well-developed agro-industrial complex. Kazakhstan has potential for developing its commodities-based industry and setting up joint companies,” Karim Masimov stressed.

The Prime Minister of Kazakhstan praised the current bilateral relations. He expressed confidence that two and three-lateral meetings scheduled for today would help coordinate positions. In his words, within the bilateral relations with Belarus and within the Single Economic Space the sides have an opportunity to coordinate their macroeconomic policies in order to be able to respond to any challenges of present time.

Kazakhstan ranks third in Belarus’ foreign trade with the CIS behind Russia and Ukraine. Last year the two counties posted good figures in mutual trade. Bilateral trade reached \\$867 million, up 2.2 times from 2009.

Belarus’ export to Kazakhstan soared 1.5 times to USD 463.5 million. Belarus’ main exports are agricultural, automobile and other transport vehicles, products of agricultural processing, tyres, consumer goods.

Last year Belarus imported USD 403.7 million worth of Kazakh goods. The import from Kazakhstan grew 5.4 times due to the supplies of Kazakh oil products to the Belarusian oil refineries since May 2010. Belarus imported gas-oil and fuel oil worth USD 313 million (78% of the total import). Belarus posted trade surplus of USD 59.8 million.

Taking into account the trade in services (USD 143.2 million), mutual trade with Kazakhstan exceeded \\$1 billion. The export of services made up USD 132.8 million, up 2.5 times, import - \\$10.4 million, a 2.2-time increase.

In 2010 Kazakhstan invested USD 365,000 in the Belarusian economy.

In January 2011 the trade between Belarus and Kazakhstan stood at USD 41 million, up 1.6 times over 2010. The Belarusian export made up USD 26.9 million (up 32.5%), import - USD 14.1 million (3.1 times).