The agenda of the next meeting of the intergovernmental Belarusian-Slovenian commission on trade, economic and sci-tech cooperation to be held in Minsk on 28-29 September was discussed in Ljubljana.
These issues were the focus of the talks between the co-chairs of the commission – Belarus' Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Alena Kupchyna and Director General for Economic Diplomacy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Stanislav Rascan.
The parties noted the need to further strengthen trade, economic and investment ties between the two countries, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Belarus to Hungary and concurrently to Slovenia Alexander Gainovsky told BelTA. In 2014 the trade between Belarus and Slovenia amounted to $109.5 million (up by 10% as against 2013), Belarusian export made up $14.9 million (up by 19%), import totaled $94.6 million (up by 8.8%). The parties believe there is a great potential to increase mutual trade. At the talks the parties agreed to revive cooperation in such promising areas as tourism, innovation, and environment. In accordance with the established practice, the meeting of the intergovernmental committee is preceded by a business forum and a business matchmaking event held under the auspices of the Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia and Belarus.
Alena Kupchyna and Stanislav Rascan expressed the hope that the cooperation in investment sphere will be boosted thanks to the memorandum of cooperation between the National Agency for Investment and Privatization and SPIRIT Slovenia, the public agency of the Republic of Slovenia for the promotion of entrepreneurship, innovation, development, investment and tourism, which was signed in Ljubljana during the last meeting of the intergovernmental commission in September 2014. The parties are also planning to hold the consultations on the agreement on mutual promotion and protection of investments which has been signed but which has not yet entered into force.
The parties also agreed to consider the possibility of concluding a document on cooperation in the field of education.
Alexander Gainovsky also noted that at the next meeting the commission will discuss the issue of establishing a Belarusian-Slovenian business council. In his view, the two countries need to tap into the potential of Chambers of Commerce and related agencies.
In addition, the Ambassador said that during the session of the intergovernmental commission in Belarus, Minsk will also host Ales Cantarutti, state secretary at Slovenia's Ministry of Economic Development and Technology, who will come to discuss the trade, economic and investment agenda.
Source: BelTA