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Russia remains Belarus’s key trade partner in 2013

MINSK, February 12. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia maintains its role as Belarus’s key trade partner in 2013, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry said in a review of its last year’s foreign activity on Wednesday.

Russia accounted for 49.5% of Belarus’s total foreign trade.

Belarus, in turn, is in the top six trade partners of Russia, the review says.

“The trade turnover reached almost $39.7 billion. Intensive high-level dialogue between Russia and Belarus helped reach principled agreements in industry, energy, finance, science, technologies as well as in the military-technical sector,” the review read.

Authors of the review noted that the two countries started translating into reality large-scale integration projects in key industries producing high-tech competitive products such as car-making, electronics and chemicals. In particular, they emphasise the joint project on Belarus’s first nuclear power plant that will be built in cooperation with Russia’s state-run nuclear corporation Rosatom.

The document pays attention to active participation of Belarus in the development of the Eurasian integration project, stronger cooperation with other member-states of the Customs Union, the Eurasian Economic Space - Russia and Kazakhstan - and the Eurasian Economic Commission.

“As Belarus’s interests had been fully taken into account, additional conditions for higher trade among three countries forming the Customs Union and the Eurasian Economic Space, for equal competition and necessary tariff protection of their common market and stronger industrial cooperation were created,” the review’s authors said.