MINSK, 24 October (BelTA) – The 8th Belarus-Latvia intergovernmental commission for economic and sci-tech cooperation will take place in Molodechno on 25-26 October, BelTA learnt from the press service of the Foreign Ministry of Belarus. The Belarusian delegation will be led by Deputy Foreign Minister of the Republic of Belarus, deputy Chairman of the Belarusian part of the commission Alexander Guryanov. The Latvian delegation will be headed by State Secretary of the Economy Ministry of Latvia, deputy Chairman of the Latvian part of the commission Juris Puce. The commission was set up in line with the Belarusian-Latvian intergovernmental agreement on economic and sci-tech cooperation of 21 April 2004. The commission sits every year. Chairman of the Belarusian part of the commission is Transport and Communications Minister Anatoly Sivak, the Chairman of the Latvian part is Minister for Economics Daniels Pavluts. Latvia is Belarus’ important economic partner. In January-August 2012 Latvia ranked 4th in trade and 4th in exports among Belarus’ trading partners. In January-August 2012 the bilateral trade totaled $3.134 billion, up 1.5 times over the same months a year ago. Exports made up $3.039 billion (up 1.5 times), imports - $94.8 million (up 20%). Belarus posted trade surplus of $2.944 billion. In January-August the bulk of exports were products of the petrochemical industry, ferrous metals and metal products, timber and potash fertilizers. Tractors, light industry products, building materials and glass products enjoy a steady demand in Latvia. Latvia major exports to Belarus were medicines, feedstuffs, knitted fabrics and woven fabrics, biodiesel, fish and products from it, metal, non-ferrous metals. In 2011, Belarus raised $119.5 million in investment from Latvia (228.3% as against 2010), including $62 million in direct investment, and $25.7 million in direct investment on the net basis. In H1 2012, Belarus raised $60.3 million in Latvian investment (up 21.6%), including $32.7 million in direct investment (up 4.2%), and $12.98 million in direct investment on the net basis. As of 1 January 2012, there were 297 enterprises in Belarus with a share of Latvian capital. Belarus and Latvia are important and complementary partners in the field of transport and transit of goods. In 2009, the two countries launched a joint container train pilot project. In January 2010, Belavia launched a regular air service Minsk-Riga–Minsk. On 1 June 2011, Latvia and Belarus resumed a regular railway passenger service. In order to intensify bilateral cooperation the two countries organize bilateral investment forums, business visits, national exhibitions The next national exhibition BelarusExpo2012 will be held in Riga on 6-9 December 2012. БЕЛТА
Written by belta.by
