Opinion: Belarus moving towards export diversification

Western sanctions against Belarus and Russia, including secondary restrictions imposed against a number of Central Asian countries, cause certain tensions in the multilateral interaction of the EAEU. Director of the Centre for European Integration, political scientist Yuri Shevtsov shared his opinion whether this affects the process of economic integration of the ‘five’ states.

“Of course, it affects because the collective West – represented by the European Union – squeezed Belarus out of a very deep economic connection. We, like Russia, have been building contacts there for many decades. Now we are moving along the path of export diversification. For example, until 2022, the beginning of the active phase of the Ukrainian conflict, Belarus had a trade structure where Russia was ranked first in terms of trade turnover, followed by the European Union and Ukraine. Now everything is changing. Therefore, of course, we are looking for ourselves in Central Asia, China, and other countries. This is much more important to us than it was before,” explained the expert.

FOR REFERENCE

According to estimates from the EAEU national statistical departments, the real GDP of the EAEU rose by 3.5 percent in 2023 against 2022. In particular, Belarus’ GDP grew by 3.9 percent and that of Russia increased by 3.5 percent, despite the fact that our countries are under the influence of Western measures to curb development.