Belarusian-Russian trade up 6.5% in 2023, exceeds $53 bln - Belarusian PM

MINSK. April 15 (Interfax) - The Belarusian and Russian economies have passed a test of strength, and bilateral trade-economic cooperation is developing successfully, Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko said.

"Trade and economic cooperation is developing dynamically. Mutual trade in goods and services exceeded $53 billion last year, demonstrating a 6.5% increase. These positive trends are continuing this year, we see an increase in trade over two months even compared with the successful period last year," Golovchenko said during talks with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin in Moscow on Monday.

"We are working fairly successfully both internally and externally, despite all the challenges faced by Russia and Belarus. Indeed, our countries have demonstrated resilience under these difficult circumstances, [and] our economies have passed a serious test of strength. As a result, GDP in Russia and Belarus grew in 2023 at a decent four percent," the Belarusian government press service quoted Golovchenko as saying.

"The margin of safety accumulated in our economies is fairly significant, and therefore the well-coordinated and collective work of our governments on common challenges is probably the main thing for us now," he said.

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