BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

21/03/2007

Moscow, Minsk Failed to Cross Barrier

Economy ministers of Russia and Belarus failed yesterday to ink the intergovernmental agreement on trading and economic cooperation. If sealed, the document would have lifted the better part of restrictions on Russia's exports to Belarus.

The grand signing of document was slated for 4:00 p.m., Tuesday. Russia's Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref was to ink it on behalf of Russia and Belarus' Vice Premier, Economy Minister Andrey Kobyakov stood for Belarus. But the ceremony dragged on for an hour and bore no fruit in the end.

The agreement wasn't signed, Deputy Economic Development Minister Vitaly Saveliev said, blaming the break of negotiations on Belarus. The signing was postponed, as "Belarus introduced a number of amendments to the document already initialed by both states," the official explained. To be more precise, Belarus suggested shelving implementation of some provisions of agreement and easing the customs clearance for cars delivered to Russia from Belarus.

Russia and Belarus finally came to terms about the agreement in January 2007, once one of their regular oil and gas clashes came to an end. The document to lift all sanctions on Russia's goods deliveries to Belarus had been elaborated for two years. Today's number of such restrictions is 146, and, according to January estimate of Economic Development Ministry, the annual damage to Russia's companies reaches $500 million.

Source:

http://www.kommersant.com/p751718/restrictions_exports/