Belarus plans to maintain current agricultural support levels upon joining the World Trade Organization. This was stated by First Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Turchin on the ONT TV channel's "Kontury" program, as reported by BELTA.
"I am confident that we will defend the current agricultural support positions that exist in the country, perhaps even with a certain increase. We have a certain lag where we can make concessions, but we understand the red lines below which we will not go. I think we will reach an agreement on this with our partners," informed the First Deputy Prime Minister.
Overall, according to Alexander Turchin, every country should agree that Belarus will be a WTO member. "If there are any issues, we are ready to sit down at the negotiating table, ready for compromises, but these compromises should not be detrimental to our country," he emphasized. Moreover, all partners and the WTO leadership note that Belarus's progress is evident. "We have set ourselves a deadline – the 12th Ministerial Conference, which will be held in Nur-Sultan next year. We plan to agree on all positions by the end of 2019, or at the latest by the first quarter of 2020, and proceed to the final part of the document," said the First Deputy Prime Minister.
The WTO opens new markets for Belarusian exporters and does not allow them to close themselves off from imports. However, according to the First Deputy Prime Minister, the main competitors are not overseas today, but within the Eurasian Union. These are primarily companies from Russia and Kazakhstan, and Belarusian producers are already accustomed to competing with them. Therefore, no one should experience shocks from joining the WTO. "For us, the goal was a unified customs tariff, which is agreed upon in the EAEU. Therefore, we were not going to lower it. Only for some exceptional groups of goods that we do not produce," he explained. "In my opinion, nothing will change for us here."
Furthermore, the WTO will become a platform where the interests of domestic businesses can be defended in the event of discrimination in certain markets. Moreover, "it absolutely does not matter whether it is a state-owned enterprise or a private one – it is an enterprise of our country, our taxpayers, and we will fight for them equally," said Alexander Turchin.
As reported by Aleksei Bogdanov, Head of the Main Department of Foreign Economic Activities of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, our country's negotiation team is striving to ensure a crucial aspect – the security of the agro-industrial complex (AIC), and to join the WTO on terms that will not harm any market segment. Significant progress has been made in this direction.
According to him, an important aspect of the WTO for Belarus is gaining access to quotas that countries have for preferential admission of agricultural products to their markets. Furthermore, Belarus faces restrictions imposed by the Russian Federation on domestic products. Within the WTO, the country will have an additional opportunity to discuss such contentious issues.
Aleksei Bogdanov also emphasized that the volume of subsidies for the AIC will not decrease. "We are trying to maintain it at the level necessary for our agriculture. All figures have been calculated repeatedly. We are striving to ensure that we have the capacity to support our agriculture in the event of any cataclysms and not to lower the current production level, but even to increase it," he said.
As previously reported, the 12th meeting of the WTO Working Group on Belarus's accession took place in Geneva on July 11. Delegates from over 50 member countries of the organization participated. Representatives from the USA, EU, Russia, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, India, China, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Vietnam, Canada, Turkey, Switzerland, Japan, Korea, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Georgia, and other countries, in their statements, supported the steps taken by the Government of Belarus towards WTO accession and expressed their readiness for active engagement with Belarus in 2019 to expedite the negotiation process.
The Belarusian delegation was led by Aleksandr Turchin. Its members included Minister of Economy Dzmitry Krutoy, Minister of Finance Maksim Yermolovich, Minister of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade Uladzimir Koltovich, First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrei Evdochenko, as well as representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, the National Bank, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Communications and Informatization, the Ministry of Industry, the State Customs Committee, the State Committee for Standardization, "Belgospishcheprom," "Belleghprom," the National Center of Intellectual Property, and the Permanent Mission of Belarus in Geneva.
News of Belarus (BELTA)