Union State parliamentarian: in 2024, Belarus-Russia trade to exceed last year’s record

Chairman of the Industry and Trade Commission at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union State of Belarus and Russia Sergei Mitin, speaking during a Minsk-Moscow video conference on the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Union State Treaty, expressed the opinion that in 2024 the trade turnover between the countries will exceed last year’s record figure

Mr. Mitin conducted an excursion into the USSR industrial policy, in which there was a clear division of the most important structure-forming enterprises.

“Belarusians, as a rule, specialised in agricultural, transport, and heavy engineering. Russia was primarily engaged in metallurgy and other branches of mechanical engineering. And over these twenty-five years [of the Union State’s existence] we have once again understood the prospect of such specialisation. In many ways, it is the basis for resisting the sanctions pressure to which both our states are subjected,” the parliamentarian stated.

He reminded that Belarus-Russia trade turnover totalled 3 trillion Russian Roubles in 2023 – an increase of 14 percent against the level of 2022.

“This is a volumetric indicator that immediately tells us in which direction we are going. Mutual trade growth is 14 percent – a growth rate Russia does not have with any other country. Nine months of this year show that this figure will be exceeded in 2024. The volume of investments is also amazing. Last year, Belarus received a preferential loan from Russia – worth 105bn Russian Roubles. Today, 20 projects have already been selected for 74bn Russian Roubles – these are joint investment projects that will work in certain areas of joint activity,” Mr. Mitin stressed.

He also noted several other important joint activities, particularly, interaction of Russian state corporations, such as Gazprom, Rostec, Rosatom, with Belarusian enterprises.

“I can’t help but touch on the topic of trade. An important point: Russia has been implementing a large-scale programme of marking goods with digital labelling for several years now. We have already digitally labelled about 15 percent of our non-resource gross product. This has a huge effect in terms of taxation, control and traceability of goods. There is a proposal to extend this experience to our joint work with the Republic of Belarus, to synchronise these actions, enabling us to more clearly represent the movement of all goods between us and counteract grey imports,” the parliamentarian concluded.