President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko received a report from the Chairman of the State Customs Committee Vladimir Orlovsky. The focus was on the functioning of customs authorities - from fulfilling the task of budget revenue generation to countering Western sanctions pressure, BelTA correspondent reports.
"From your point of view, what is the situation at the border? Naturally, primarily from an economic perspective. How are you fulfilling your main duties in forming the state budget in the area for which you are responsible?" - the head of state outlined the key issues at the beginning of the meeting.
The President recalled that some time ago, functions and powers were redistributed between the State Border Guard Committee and the State Customs Committee. In this regard, Alexander Lukashenko inquired about the situation: "What is happening in connection with this? Are there any concerns? Perhaps we made a mistake somewhere?"
"I would like you to assess our actions and (report. - BelTA note) how you are acting to counter the sanctions imposed by the West," the Belarusian leader continued. - The West has imposed sanctions against us. We have responded. You have been assigned the most important function on the front line, in the economy - to control the implementation of anti-sanction measures, i.e., our retaliatory measures. How are they looking today? What is happening in this regard?"
Separately, the head of state touched upon the issue of improving infrastructure at customs checkpoints and customs technologies. "The European Union once financed some joint programs in the customs sphere at our border. At one time, they stopped helping us, supporting us in this regard, and refused to implement the programs. This is complete swine behavior: they promised, they agreed, and then they spat on it all. Well, they apparently have the right to do so," the President said. - Have we been able to compensate for their absence with our own measures? Have we not lost these programs, are we continuing to improve the infrastructure of the customs authorities?"
In addition to discussing the current state of affairs in the customs sphere, there was an opportunity to mention the merits of the State Customs Committee (SCC) employees, as today marks their professional holiday. The Head of State warmly congratulated all those concerned: "These guys deserve it, please convey my warmest wishes to them on my behalf. They perform very important functions. God grant that this is always done with dignity, not like in the first years of my presidency."
Vladimir Orlovsky thanked for the congratulations. Regarding the situation at the border, he reported: "Of course, due to the unprecedented sanctions of the European Union, our work has changed significantly. The fact that our trucks, both Belarusian and Russian, were banned from entering has had a serious impact on our work. But we organised ourselves within a week. We already had logistics centres along the border for this purpose. We added and equipped a number of additional sites, switched our personnel to a round-the-clock mode, and established the process of trailer swapping and reloading literally within a week."
"That is, a truck enters, unhook or reload the goods and drives into the European Union, and then we and the Russians continue to work," Alexander Lukashenko clarified.
"Absolutely correct. We are engaging our carriers. And the same applies in the opposite direction," confirmed the Head of the SCC.
According to the SCC, in 2022, Br5.8 billion in customs payments were received by the republican budget. Over 951 thousand freight vehicles passed through the EAEU customs border into Belarus, with the volume of goods transported amounting to 12 million tonnes. The number of passenger vehicles transported increased more than threefold, from 321 thousand units to 1.2 million units. This year, it is planned to complete the reconstruction of 7 road checkpoints: "Brest", "Mokrany", "Benyakoni", "Kotlovka", "Vidzy", "Grigorovshchina", and "Novaya Rudnya".
Since the beginning of 2022, over Br38 million has been received by the budget from the law enforcement activities of customs authorities, which is 38% higher than the figures for the same period last year. 266 cases of illegal trafficking of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances were suppressed, 127 criminal cases were initiated, and about 500 kg of narcotic drugs, psychotropic and potent substances were seized. 60 cases of illegal actions related to weapons, ammunition, and explosives were detected, 6 criminal cases were initiated, and 267 units of weapons and ammunition were seized.
Regarding the measures taken by the customs authorities to counteract sanctions pressure, the State Customs Committee recalled the ban established in Belarus on the movement of trucks from EU countries across its territory (this measure was taken in response to the sanctions imposed by the EU against Belarusian and Russian transport companies). For the movement of goods to or from unfriendly countries, trailer swapping or cargo reloading is possible at 18 specially designated locations, which can accommodate almost 2.2 thousand trucks simultaneously. Approximately 1 thousand trailer swaps and 400 reloads are carried out daily.
Source: belta.by