Belarus at brink of trade war with Russia :: Charter'97 :: News

Belarus only pretends that it opens its market for Russian goods. Minsk changes one barrier for the others. The experts forecast another turn of aggravation of the Russian -Belarusian relations tension. Now it is likely to be on account of trade.

According to the experts’ calculations, 5 liabilities out of 19 taken by Belarus at signing the intergovernmental agreement on development of trade and economic relations were not fulfilled by Belarus, the “Nezavisimaya Gazeta “newspaper runs. Equal conditions for Russian manufacturers participation in tenders were not created , equal for both countries access to the Belarusian market of fish products and agricultural technological equipment was no t provided .The state subsidies which do not comply with the WTO are continued to be applied. Furthermore, the Belarusian government experts themselves have calculated that for cancelling the prohibited subsidies 19 amendments had to be introduced into the legislation but only 7 were actually introduced. The deadlines on all the points except the tobacco have already passed.

However the economic experts see a threat to the Russian –Belarusian trade relations not only in the non-fulfillment of all the liabilities. The thing is that the decisions made by the official Minsk meeting the requirements of the agreement do not really open the market to the Russian goods, and the working conditions for Russian manufacturers have not been improved.

For example for meeting the requirement of opening the Belarusian market for Russian fish products the government annulled the quotas for import of Russian fish and fish products as well as their deliveries though warehouses of temporary storage. That was followed by the Lukashenka’s edict (#361) imposing the state monopoly on fish import and the factual presidential monitoring of who may deliver those goods to Belarus (list of suppliers is to be signed by the president personally) and how much may be supplied. Formally the document removes all the quantitative restrictions and introduces selection of suppliers on a competitive basis. But the selection is to be governed by a specially created commission under the auspices of the presidential administration. This commission is also to determine the criteria for the suppliers’ selection. Such schedule, according to the experts, makes the procedure of delivering fish to the country even less clear and transparent and it also makes a good basis for corruption.

The decisions made by the Belarusian government after signing the agreement do not make the access to the tobacco market for Russian manufacturers easier either .Belarus raised the excise rates for expensive cigarette brands by 40% and announced the establishment of the exclusive importers institution thus imposing additional barriers on the way of the Russian goods, the experts state. The thing is that the Belarusian tobacco manufacturers produce only cheap cigarettes. Raising of the excise rates makes their products even more attractive for consumers. The list of exclusive importers is similar to the fish state monopoly.

The existing contradictions have not been moved to the summit level yet. The attempts for removing them at the sittings of the commission on tariff and non-tariff regulation at the Union Council of ministers failed. Though the expert close to the commission explained to the Nezavisimaya Gazeta that it is very difficult to make a corresponding agreement as the Belarusian party is very hard to negotiate with.

It is to be mentioned that earlier Alyaksandr Lukashenka blamed his government for signing the non-beneficial for the country agreement. When estimating its consequences for the Belarusian economy the experts dwelt on the might-be crash of the Belarusian magic which has been based on subsidies and preferences.