Krutoi: all CIS states traded 40% less with Russia than Belarus alone

According to recent estimates, Belarus is trading with Russia more efficiently than all other CIS member states as a whole – as noted by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Belarus to Russia Dmitry Krutoi, speaking at a gala evening in Moscow in honour of the Day of Unity of the Peoples of Belarus and Russia

According to Dmitry Krutoi, this result was made possible thanks to the close co-operation between the two countries’ industries within the Union State. The Ambassador noted that China is predictably the leader in Russia’s foreign trade turnover; however, across a number of positions, the superiority of our country in trade with the Russians is undeniable.

“Experts often cite as an example China, which was ranked first in Russia’s trade turnover last year. For obvious reasons, the trade turnover amounted to $190bn, a 4-fold difference [the trade turnover between Belarus and Russia amounted to about $50bn], but you perfectly understand the difference between the population of Belarus and China. If we take comparable figures [in terms of the population], I think Belarus is the undisputed leader in trade-economic relations with Russia,” added the diplomat.

Dmitry Krutoi cited an illustrative example of only one enterprise. In 2022, the number of Russian enterprises and organisations that liaised with the Minsk Tractor Works (MTZ) reached 160. The number of employees in these organisations is 400,000 people. MTZ bought $160m worth of products from these organisations over the year, which is twice the level of 2020 and 2021. Moreover, the Ambassador underlined that there are dozens of such examples of co-operation.

“Gomselmash combine harvesters will be assembled in the Krasnodarsky Krai, a modern production of trams will be opened in the Nizhny Novgorod Region while a large MTZ centre has opened in Astrakhan and Belarusian trolleybuses are being assembled in Ufa under a joint co-operation programme, several elevator enterprises are also liaising and dozens more examples,” he explained.

Dmitry Krutoi emphasised that over the past two decades, Belarus-Russia trade has increased 5-fold. “Today, the main trend and response to the aggressive sanctions that have been imposed on our countries are projects in science-intensive and high-tech industries: from medicines to spacecraft and microchips. This is what the presidents of our countries pay special attention to, and this work of governments is under separate – very serious – control,” he summed up.