India, Belarus target trade worth $1 billion by 2018
In an attempt to promote investment flows between the two countries, especially in the backdrop of 'Make in India' campaign, India and Belarus agreed to improve business to business contacts. The decision was taken during India-Belarus Inter Governmental Commission meeting at Minsk, Belarus, where India’s Minister for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman and Belarus’s Minister for Industry Vitali Mikhailovich Vovk represented their delegation. “The present level of trade at $400 million did not reflect the true depth of engagement between India and Belarus. It was agreed to set a target of $1 billion by the year 2018,” said the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in a statement. “India and Belarus also discussed the issues relating to long term contract for supply of potash fertilizers to India and possible equity participation of Indian fertilizer companies in Belarusian company producing Potash Fertilizer,” the statement added. During the meeting, the two countries identified the key areas, i.e. pharmaceuticals and Mining machinery, and agreed to step up their economic cooperation. In the meeting, India has also requested the Belarusian government to remove bottlenecks related to pharmaceuticals exports, cooperation in potash sector and visa approval norms to bolster their economic engagement. It is noteworthy that Belarus has been keen to engage Indian companies in its mineral sector. In June 2013, BHEL had supplied and installed machinery for Grodno Power Project II. Bilateral trade between the two countries touched $547 million in 2011 and fell to $351 million in 2013, before climbing to $402 million in 2014. In 2014, Belarus’s total export to India amounted to $215 million, up from approximately $170 million in 2013. Whereas, imports from the country stood at $187 million, a marginal increase from $181 million year-on-year. India’s major export items to Belarus include medicines, tobacco, cotton yarn, electric transformers, coffee/tea, rice, carbonic acid and ferrous metal goods and imports from Belarus include fertilizers (Potash & Nitrogen), tyres & tubes (rubber and nylon cord), polyamides, polycarboxilic, and raw iron or alloy-free steel from Belarus. Pharmaceuticals contribute a major part of India’s exports to Belarus, currently about $35 million per year. The next session of the inter-governmental meeting will be held in New Delhi in 2016.
September 09, 2015 | 1:30pm IST.
to success.