BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

02/08/2006

Canada Cuts Trade with Belarus

There's talk of making Canada's trade relations with Belarus as frigid as their bilateral relations, but exporters say the move is inappropriate and will only hurt Canadian companies.

The government has taken steps to impose trade restrictions on Belarus after months of criticism over the former Soviet state's human rights record and the recent sentencing of the country's opposition leader to five and a half years in prison.

If the government is successful, Belarus will join Myanmar-also known as Burma-as the only other country on Canada's Area Control List, which requires Canadian exporters to obtain a permit to export to the country. Permits for humanitarian goods, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade says, will generally be approved.

"Canada condemns the unreasonably harsh sentence imposed on former presidential candidate Alexander Kozulin for exercising his right to protest," Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay said in a statement on July 14. "This is yet another example of the utter disregard of the Lukashenko regime for the democratic rights of the Belarusian people."

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's re-election on March 19 has sparked numerous demonstrations and police have arrested dozens of protesters, including 30 earlier this month who gathered outside the Russian Embassy in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, to demand Russia stop supporting Mr. Lukashenko's government. Numerous prominent opposition figures have also disappeared over the years.

The government posted its intention to place Belarus on the control list in the July 8 edition of the Canada Gazette, the government's official newspaper, and interested parties have until August 7 to deliver their support or opposition to the plan to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

The Belarusian Embassy in Ottawa says Ambassador Nina Mazai is the only official who can speak to the matter, but that she is unavailable for comment until the end of August.

Part of International Censure

Relations between Belarus and Canada have been all but frozen since Mr. MacKay summoned Ms. Mazai to his Ottawa office in late March to demand the release of Frederick Lavoie, a freelance Canadian journalist who was arrested while covering nationwide pro-democracy protests in March.

Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Pamela Greenwell says Canada generally places countries on the control list "when working in concert with like-minded countries in reaction to specific situations requiring international censure.

"Our action as regards to Belarus takes place in a similar context, in which gross abuses of democratic rights have triggered an international response. The addition of Belarus... was considered an appropriate instrument with which Canada could contribute to international efforts and complement measures taken by partners and allies," says Ms. Greenwell.

In the past, the government has placed Libya, apartheid-era South Africa, the former Yugoslavia, and Haiti on the list, though all four countries have since been taken off.

"Once the Government of Canada is satisfied that the issues that originally lead to the country's inclusion on the ACL have been addressed in a positive manner, the regulatory process to remove a country from the ACL can commence," says Ms. Greenwell.

It was unclear what actions Belarus would have to take to be taken off the list if it is added.

The amount of trade flowing between the two countries is extremely small; in 2005, Canadian exports to Belarus totaled $8.8 million, while Canadian imports from Belarus were recorded at $20 million.

Playing Politics

Peter Szyszlo, manager of the Emerging, Dynamic, Global Economies Network at the University of Ottawa who has worked and lived in Belarus for several years, believes the Canadian government is trying to play politics with the European country.

Not only is this a message to Russia to stop supporting what Mr. Szyszlo describes as the least-reformed former Soviet state, but also a bid by the Canadian government to get onside with the U.S. and other Western countries that are trying to entice Belarus to Western principles.

"I think the West is trying to find some way of leveraging Belarus," Mr. Szyszlo says, adding the attempt will likely prove unsuccessful given Russia's strong relations with Belarus and its almost non-existent relations to the West. "The West wants to see regime change, but Canada has very little influence there. It doesn't have sticks or carrots to offer."

Liberal foreign affairs critic Keith Martin says Belarus was an "odd" country for the Canadian government to focus on, and if they want to make a difference, will have to "take a broad approach and not do just one thing [level sanctions]."

The government's announcement that it intends to place Belarus on the list has elicited concern from some corners. Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, an association representing companies responsible for about 90 per cent of Canada's manufactured exports, has submitted a letter to the deputy director of DFAIT's Export Controls Division describing the government's move as "inappropriate."

"While supportive of the government's position with respect to the observance of human rights in Belarus, we believe that those policy objectives are best achieved through political and diplomatic means, not through trade measures that would penalize Canadian exporters," writes CME's senior vice-president, Jayson Myers.

"Export restrictions should be considered only in the most exceptional of circumstances and when accompanies by other political and diplomatic sanctions," he continues.

Rick McRonald, executive director of the Canadian Livestock Genetics Association, which represents several companies that export Canadian dairy cattle semen and embryos to Belarus, agrees that while the human rights situation in Belarus needs to be addressed, sanctions aren't the way to go.

"This is not going to accomplish anything except hurt Canadian exporters," he says. "It seems Canada had a taken a stand on Belarus publicly [during the March elections] and now we seem to have to take some action."

Mr. McRonald says the majority of companies exporting to Belarus are small to medium enterprises that have recently made strides in developing more business in the country. In May, several Canadian companies signed an agreement with the Minsk regional government worth $12 million over the next five years.

"It may not be huge by some comparisons, but it's significant to those involved," he says, adding some companies have also invested in the country. "And it's going to get bigger."

Source:

http://www.embassymag.ca/html/index.php?display=story&full_path=/2006/august/2/belarus/

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