Belarusian diplomats working on full lifting of U.S. sanctions - diplomat
MINSK. July 13 (Interfax) - Belarusian diplomats are working on the full lifting of U.S. sanctions, and exports of Belarusian services to the United States may reach $500 million by the year-end, Belarusian Charge D'Affaires to the United States Pavel Shidlovsky said in Minsk on Thursday, before a meeting between heads of Belarusian missions to foreign countries and businessmen.
"The normalization process has been evolving for the past few years but it has not passed the point of no-return. Certain stereotypes remain, although the sides are advancing towards one another. The U.S. sanctions have yet to be fully lifted. For now they are suspended for Belneftekhim enterprises. We are working on the complete lifting of those sanctions," Shidlovsky said.
The atmosphere of bilateral relations has improved, which makes it possible to develop cooperation in a number of areas, such as trade, economic affairs and investments, he said.
"Belarusian exports to the United States demonstrated a good, upward trend in the first five months of this year. The exports grew by 2.5 times to practically $80 million," Shidlovsky said.
"Exports of services to the United States have also been growing rapidly. First of all, these are computer services rendered by residents of the High-Tech Park. A growth of approximately 20% has been posted. We will be able to export $500 million worth of services to the United States in 2017 if the dynamics of the first five months persists," Shidlovsky said.
