Every country needs to form trade partnerships with other countries to foster economic growth, and Belarus is not an exception to this. The country has some strategic relationships which are discussed below
Belarus- Armenia
The Republic of Belarus and the Republic of Armenia established Diplomatic relations on June 11, 1993.
The countries have signed around 70 agreements governing various areas of cooperation.
Bilateral visits at the highest and most senior levels are scheduled regularly. Presidents, Prime Ministers, and Foreign Ministers of the two countries meet regularly as part of the CIS, EAEU, and CSTO.
The commercial turnover with Armenia was $82,3 million in 2020, with Belarusian exports being $57,5 million.
Milk and cream, cheeses and cottage cheese, tractors and trucks, machines and devices for lifting, moving, loading or unloading, beef, insulated wires and cables, medications, furniture and parts, butter, and machine and device parts account for the majority of Belarusian exports to Armenia.
The primary goods imported from Armenia are alcoholic drinks, copper scrap and trash, styrene polymers, ferroalloys, hygiene items, and seafood.
In Armenia, a substantial distribution network of Belarusian businesses has emerged. In Armenia, four enterprises are having Belarusian capital.
In March 2020, Yerevan hosted the 14th Session of the Intergovernmental Belarusian-Armenian Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation.
Belarus – Azerbaijan
In all fields of mutual interest, Belarus and Azerbaijan have intensified their relationship.
On June 11, 1993, the two countries established diplomatic ties. Since 2006, there have been 9 high-level official visits, 3 visits by Belarus’ Prime Minister to Azerbaijan, and 11 meetings of the Intergovernmental Commission for Trade and Economic Cooperation.
Belarus’ trade turnover with Azerbaijan in 2020 was 447.1 million dollars, with 190.1 million dollars in exports.
The primary export items to Azerbaijan were railway passenger coaches, harvesting or threshing machinery, timber sawn or chipped longitudinally, butter, medicaments, fiberboard of wood or other ligneous materials, the flesh of bovine animals, milk and cream, and tractors.
Belarus imports petroleum oils, ethylene and propylene polymers, undenatured ethyl alcohol, nuts, potatoes, electrical transformers, and other items from Azerbaijan.
Since 2007, many bilateral industrial cooperation projects, including assembly lines for Belarusian tractors and trucks, have been launched. In the field of industrial collaboration, the Ganja automobile plant leads the Belarusian-Azerbaijani partnership.
Six corporate companies and 45 dealers make up Belarusian producers’ distribution network in the Azerbaijani market, representing the interests of more than 50 Belarusian exporters.
Belarus – Russia
Belarus and Russia have formed a strategic partnership based on their geographical proximity, close historical and cultural ties, and economic ties and cooperation between Belarusian and Russian firms.
The Agreement on the Establishment of the Union States of Belarus and Russia, signed by the heads of state in 1999, establishes a legal framework for integration between the two countries.
Belarus and Russia agreed to a set of major goals, including ensuring peaceful and democratic development, establishing a single economic and customs area and a proper legal framework, ensuring sustainable economic development, pursuing agreed-upon foreign, defense, and social policies, as well as ensuring security and combating crime.
Mutual commerce is expected to reach $ 29.5 billion in 2020, with exports to Russia totaling $13.1 billion and imports from Russia totaling $ 16.4 billion. Belarusian foreign commerce is dominated by Russia, which accounts for 47.9% of the country’s total.
Belarus and Russia have a successful energy and energy resource cooperation. Belarus contributes considerably to regional energy security by properly fulfilling its commitments in terms of the transit of Russian energy resources to European countries.
Along with cooperation inside the Union State, both countries promote the strengthening of multilateral cooperation and actively participate in other post-Soviet integration efforts.
The CIS Treaty on Free Trade Area was signed on October 18, 2011, by Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, and Ukraine. Uzbekistan signed the Treaty on its own.
Belarus is also a signatory to the CIS Agreement on the Establishment of a Free Trade Area, which was signed on April 15, 1994. (with amendments of April 2, 1999). The Agreement is used in dealings with the Member States for which the CIS Treaty on Free Trade Area, which entered into force on October 18, 2011, has not yet entered into force, such as Azerbaijan.
Furthermore, following Georgia’s withdrawal from the CIS, the Republic of Belarus and Georgia agreed to use the Agreement on the Establishment of a Free Commerce Zone of April 15, 1994, in mutual trade through an exchange of notes between the foreign ministries.
Foreign countries are encouraged to engage with Belarus and the Eurasian Economic Union in general as a result of the effective execution of Eurasian economic integration.
The free trade system with the third party is established based on an international treaty between the Union and this third party, according to Article 35 of the EAEU Treaty of May 29, 2014.
