Belarus to build port in northwestern Russia - PM

MINSK. Aug 11 (Interfax) - Belarus has decided to build a port in the northwestern part of Russia, Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko said.

"We understand that large amounts [of cargo] need to be transshipped. This concerns all types of cargo, including mineral fertilizers, lumber, rolling cargo, or container shipments. Therefore, several proven options for continued development of our own facilities have been submitted to the president [Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko]. A decision has been made on one of them, and it will be implemented in the near future. This is the [new port's location in the] northwestern part of the Russian Federation," the state news agency BelTA quoted Golovchenko as saying.

On Thursday, Lukashenko hosted a conference dealing with the construction of port facilities to export Belarusian products via Russia.

Golovchenko declined to name the exact location where Belarus would build a port facility. "Let's close the deal and then reveal our cards. The project will start working in the near future, certainly by the end of the year," the SB Belarus Segodnya publication quoted Golovchenko as saying.

Moreover, Belarus could expand the construction of port facilities, Golovchenko said. "As concerns two or three extra locations, the president demanded conducting an extra analysis of their economic parameters and specifying the cost of the investments."

"We want to ensure diversification rather than pool everything at the same place, as happened with the Baltic ports. We see abnormal processes happening in global politics now, and it's very difficult to predict anything. Therefore, the goal is to diversify shipments as much as possible and minimize the volume of investment," Golovchenko said.

Due to Western sanctions, Belarus is deprived of the opportunity to export goods, including potash fertilizers, through the Baltic ports. Since February 1, 2022, Lithuania has ceased to admit trains from Belarus carrying potash fertilizers and heading towards the Klaipeda port, a major transshipment hub for Belarusian fertilizer exports. The Klaipeda port used to load 10-11 million tons of Belaruskali fertilizers onto ships annually, and these fertilizers accounted for about 20-25% of all cargo transported by rail in Lithuania.