Belarusian PM calls for better coordination of Moscow-Minsk efforts on import substitution

MINSK. Feb 2 (Interfax) - Belarus and Russia need to strengthen coordination of work on import substitution, Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko said at a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin in Almaty on Thursday.

"We should not miss a very important thing - the strategic development of the Union State, as amid the current issues of finance, trade barriers we probably - at least under our estimate - don't pay enough attention to coordinating the creation of a joint strategy for the development of industries. Mainly, industries of the future: microelectronics, pharmaceuticals, IT, auto industry," Golovchenko said in a fragment of his speech that was published on the Telegram channel of the Belarusian government.

"One of the main problems we were forced to solve in 2022 within the Union State was substitution of critical imports," he said.

"Over the year, the volume of mutual supplies of such products amounted to around 1.2 billion Belarusian rubles, according to our estimates. In reality, I think the figure is much higher. But we did that as part of anti-crisis, urgent measures," Golovchenko said.

"I believe we need to intensify the work on coordination of import substitution in addition to the projects for which the Russian Federation provides loans for implementation in the Republic of Belarus," the Belarusian prime minister said.

Twelve passports of such projects have already been approved and the approval of another four passports is pending, he said.

"But what I would like to offer in addition: we need to synchronize industry import substitution programs. We have analyzed those 20 Russian [import substitution] programs and we see that some commodities can be fully provided by Belarusian enterprises. In the same way, I am certain that Russian manufacturers can seamlessly enter Belarusian import substitution programs," Golovchenko said.

"I am not saying it's something new, I just suggest intensifying the work in this direction. Verification and synchronization. And of course, we need to start implementing joint investment projects. In microelectronics, machine-building, medical and pharmaceutical sectors," he said.

"We need to decide on the implementers, on financing and co-financing instruments," Golovchenko said. "We are doing it anyway. But we believe we should make a track for several years, these are complex programs. And like Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin said in his address to us, participants in the EAEU intergovernmental council, we need to unite our efforts in the development and creation of advanced technological solutions in various sectors of the economy," the Belarusian prime minister said.