Page 14 - BELRptJuly18

Earlier this year, Rosselkhoznadzor said it is not going to impose a ban on imports of milk, cream, whey and other dairy products from Belarus, but it regularly imposes administrative obstacles to Belarusian dairy imports. The move followed Minsk-Moscow talks, during which a roadmap for settling the milk trade row was signed. The Belarusian delegation in Moscow promised to take more measures to stop Western food from being re-exported into Russia.
Rosselkhoznadzor also obtained invitations to inspect Belarusian dairy companies that are suspected of supplying “unsafe” products to Russia.
Initially, the watchdog was going to ban imports of milk, cream, whey and other dairy products from Belarus from February 26. However, in late February, the ban was postponed until March 6, and then the second time - until March 6.
Rosselkhoznadzor attributed its intention to impose the ban to alleged repeated discoveries of violations of veterinary and sanitary requirements of the Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and Russia. Minsk has rejected any wrongdoing.
Belarus' exports to India rose by almost 40% year-on-year in January-March following a 13% y/y growth in 2016, Vladimir Ulakhovich, chairman of the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vladimir Ulakhovich said on June 4. Ulakhovich did not provide absolute numbers, according to government news agency BELTA . Meanwhile, according to data provided to bne Intellinews by the Belstat state statistics agency, the nation's exports to India increased by 39.2% y/y to $95.6mn in the first quarter of 2017. The nation's imports amounted to $38.9m (a 21.1% y/y rise. Belarusian-Indian trade totalled $134.5mn (a 33.4% y/y growth) in January-March. In 2017, Belarus' exports to India grew by 13.1% y/y to $308.1mn, imports increased by 9.6% y/y to $147mn. Belarusian-Indian trade increased by 11.9% y/y to $455.1mn last year. Belarus and India intend to raise their bilateral trade to $1bn by 2020, ambassador of India to Belarus Sangeeta Bahadur told journalists on June 4. "Events like today's help increase the volume of trade between our countries. When the Belarus president visited India last year, it was stated that the two countries should try and raise the trade up to $1bn. The volume of trade is slightly more than $400mn for now but everything is being done to hit the target in 2019-2020 if not this year," BELTA quoted the diplomat as saying. Indian delegation was discussing in Belarus, specifically, plans for cooperation of Indian companies with Belarus in the special economic zone Bremino-Orsha, near the border with Russia. Indian businesses are considering creation of a hub, which can be used to deliver products to the Baltic states, Russia, and Ukraine.
14 BELARUS Country Report July 2018 www.intellinews.com