27 May 2010
Belarus, Austria to discuss credit and investment cooperation
MINSK, 27 May (BelTA) – The 10th session of the Belarusian-Austrian commission for trade and economic cooperation will be held in Austria on 31 May - 1 June, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of Belarus Andrei Savinykh told a news briefing. A Belarusian delegation will be headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Valery Voronetsky, an Austrian one will be led by the chief of the foreign economic policy and European integration center of the federal ministry for economy, family and youth policy, Josef Mayer. The Belarusian delegation will include officials of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, Committee for Standardization, Priorbank, Belvneshstrakh insurance company, Brest oblast executive committee, Mogilev free economic zone and the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and also representatives of the agricultural and chemistry industry companies. The commission will consider the state and prospects of bilateral trade, trade and investment cooperation, EU-Belarus interaction, joint projects in energy efficiency and green technology, various aspects of regional cooperation. The Chamber of Economy of Austria will host a matchmaking session for representatives of the business communities of Belarus and Austria. Members of the Belarusian delegation will get familiar with the economic potential of Upper Austria, hold presentations and talks in the local government and the Chamber of Economy and visit several high-technology production facilities. The bilateral working group for environmental protection and environmental technology set up as part of the Belarusian-Austrian commission for trade and economic cooperation will gather for the fifth session to discuss the economic, eco- and energy cooperation between economic entities of the two countries. In 2009 the trade between Belarus and Austria was down 30.4% over 2008 to $177.1 million. Belarusian export went down 36.1% to $23.8 million, import - by 29.5% to $153.3 million. Belarus had a $129.6m deficit. In January-March 2010 the trade upped 11.3% over Q1 2009 to $38.7 million. Belarusian export shrank by 24.6% to $5.7 million; import from Austria was up 21.2% to $33 million. The deficit amounted to $27.3 million. According to the National Statistics Committee of Belarus, in 2009 Belarus raised $931.7 million in Austrian investment, which is roughly the same as in 2008. As of 1 October 2009 in Belarus there were 17 offices of Austrian companies and 90 companies with Austrian capital including 53 joint ventures and 37 foreign companies. The aggregate authorized capital made up $57.2 million.БЕЛТА