Subbotin: Belarus needs and important relations with Georgia

During the meeting

October 6, MINSK. Belarus needs and important relations with Georgia, said Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Subbotin during a meeting with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Georgia to Belarus Valery Kvaratskhelia, BelTA has learned.

"Relations with Georgia are very necessary and important. We must be friends. Trade turnover is growing in these difficult days of pandemic and political turbulence. Exports of both goods from Georgia and Belarus are growing. Several projects - Dairy Plant, Mogilevliftmash. That's all an indicator that we will move forward together and that there is interest between our countries. I hope that your next visit to us is also confirmation of this," Alexander Subbotin said.

Alexander Subbotin

In turn, the ambassador noted that contacts between the business communities of the two countries have recently intensified. “Many interesting topics have appeared that I would like to discuss with you. Because during the pandemic there were no international flights, no one came. Now there are so many flights. Now you can come here from any corner of Georgia – three or four flights a week. "Never in the history of our relations. Now even Kutaisi has been added. And Georgian airlines operate flights to Minsk," he stressed. "This year, the flow of Belarusian tourists has doubled. Belarus has entered the top eight countries that come to Georgia. Despite the pandemic , tourists came and found good places where they could relax. This year there were a lot of tourists with children from Belarus."

In January-August 2021, the trade turnover between Belarus and Georgia amounted to $55.4 million and increased by 4.9% compared to the level of 2020. Exports amounted to $32.8 million (a 98% rate), imports - $22.7 million (an increase of 17.2%). The balance is positive - plus $10.1 million.

This year, the main Belarusian exports to Georgia are industrial products (electric transformers, insulated wires, cables, hoists, lighting equipment), agricultural products ( MILKand condensed and dry cream, malt, whey, starch), food products (SUGAR, pasta, prepared or canned MEAT products, sausages, non-condensed milk and cream, cottage cheese, FLOUR products, butter, fish, confectionery), ethyl ALCOHOL, strong alcoholic beverages, malt, woodworking products (wood fiber boards, plywood, other furniture and parts thereof, chipboards, longitudinally sawn timber), medicines for retail sale, hair products, computers for automatic information processing, building parts made of plastic.

Valery Kvaratskhelia

Mineral waters, strong alcoholic drinks, natural grape wines, copper waste and scrap, nuts, fruits, manganese oxides, clays are imported from Georgia.

Turnover in trade in services in January-July 2021 amounted to $19.4 million (increased by 56.1% compared to 2020). EXPORT of services amounted to $12.6 million (131.1% rate), import - $6.8 million (an increase of 2.4 times). The balance of trade in services is positive - plus $5.7 million.

The basis of exports of services was transport services - $9 million (71.4% of total exports of services, an increase of 31.5%), including air transport services - $5.8 million, motor transport services - $3.26 million, other business services - $1.5 million (increased by 27.4%), computer and telecommunications services - $1.2 million (increase by 37.5%), HEALTH services - $0.4 million (increase by 22.1%).

There are 25 enterprises with Georgian capital operating in Belarus, including 13 joint ventures and 12 foreign organizations.

As of July 2021, Georgia has a trade union entity with Belarusian state capital (LLC "BNH Tbilisi", the share of the Belarusian side in the authorized capital is 51%), an enterprise with Belarusian private capital for the processing of Belarusian dry milk raw materials LLC "Tbilisi Dairy Plant", 40 TPN entities without Belarusian capital, including two assembly plants - elevators of Mogilevliftmash JSC on the basis of GTU-SIS LLC, tractors of BZTDiA JSC on the basis of Germes LLC (the production of tractors does not work), a drug packaging enterprise (company "Aversi-Rational").

A large furniture showroom for the sale of products of CJSC Pinskdrev, two retail stores of Bellegprom enterprises (CJSC Milavitsa and Blakit), as well as 15 stores for the sale of Belarusian food products have been opened in Tbilisi.

Photo by Sergey Sheleg