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Belarus wants to develop long-term cooperation with EBRD

MINSK, April 01. /ITAR-TASS/. The government of Belarus is set to develop long-term cooperation with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) which could contribute to building more effective relations and implementing joint projects, Belarusian Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich said after meeting EBRD Vice-President Andras Simor on Tuesday.

“We should decide whether it is expedient to evaluate the economic and political situation in Belarus when the bank makes its annual decision on whether it is going to work in the country,” the Belarusian prime minister said.

Myasnikovich hoped that the opening of a new EBRD office in Minsk would open new opportunities for EBRD representatives to establish closer contacts with Belarusian officials. “We are going to heed the recommendations of the bank’s leadership and managers,” Myasnikovich said, adding Belarus and the EBRD could step up cooperation on transport and forestry projects.

The Belarusian prime minister said Belarus’ relations with the EBRD had been positive in recent years. In 2011, the sides implemented 185 million dollars worth of projects; the figure exceeded 250 million dollars in 2012. The EBRD invested about a hundred million dollars in Belarus in the first quarter of 2014.

The EBRD vice-president said the bank did not dictate the pace of economic change to other countries but would support them in those undertakings. Simor added that private sector was the EBRD’s main sphere of activity according to the bank’s mandate.