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than refuelling a car with gasoline or diesel fuel for travelling the same distance," Semashko said. "It is a nice incentive for switching to electric cars. As far as the vehicles are concerned, China is ready to assemble a certain number of electric cars at the BelGee factory."
However, the Belarusian authorities need to prepare "the infrastructure for this kind of transport and iron out all the kinks", Semashko added. "I think the factory will also assemble electric cars in two or three years," he underlined.
The statement followed June's announcement that China's carmaker Zotye International Automobile Trading has signed a $560mn agreement to set up production of electric cars in Belarus with the Belarusian-British joint venture Unison. The deal provides for assembling 30,000 Zotye electric cars in Belarus by 2022 with a high degree of localisation. The cars will then be sold exclusively in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
9.1.6 Agriculture sector news
Belarus is on track for a good harvest after bringing in over 3mn tonnes of grain as of the start of August from just over half of the cultivated area, BelTA reported on August 3, citing the Agriculture and Food Ministry. Belarus has harvested 1.078mn hectares planted to cereal and leguminous crops, which is 50.4% of the sown area with an average yield of 28.4 centners per hectare. This year the harvest campaign kicked off earlier than in 2017. As of 3 August 2017, Belarusian agrarians cropped 1.268mn tonnes of grain. Brest Oblast harvested 77.9% of the area, Grodno Oblast – 67.9%. Minsk Oblast harvested 53.4% of its areas, Gomel Oblast - 43.8%. Vitebsk Oblast and Mogilev Oblast cropped 31% and 26.2% of the areas respectively.
9.1.9 Tourism sector news
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has extended by special decree the visa-free entry period from five to 30 days provided foreign nationals enter the country at Minsk airport. The document has also updated the list of states whose citizens are entitled to visa-free travel. It has been revised to exclude the countries with which Belarus has concluded bilateral agreements on mutual abolition of visas, BELTA news agency reported on July 24. In February 2017, the Belarusian authorities cancelled visa requirements for citizens of 80 countries visiting the republic for up to five days via its main airport in Minsk. The new regulations apply to 39 countries in Europe, including the whole of the EU, as well as Brazil, Indonesia, the US, Japan, and other countries. Visa-free entry does not also apply to foreigners coming to Belarus to work, to do business or to study, if the period of activity exceeds 30 days. According to the nation's State Customs Committee, some 79,200 foreigners visited Belarus on a visa-free basis in 2017. The countries that sent the most visa-free tourists to Belarus last year were Germany (12,700), Poland (nearly 7,600), and Italy (over 6,700).
27 BELARUS Country Report August 2018 www.intellinews.com