Belarus signs agreement on oil deliveries from Kazakhstan

A Belarusian-Kazakh intergovernmental agreement on trade and economic cooperation in the area of deliveries of oil and oil products to Belarus was signed in Kazakhstan's capital on 28 June as a result of negotiations between Prime Minister of Belarus Roman Golovchenko and Kazakhstan Prime Minister Askar Mamin, BelTA learned from Belarusian First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aleksandr Guryanov.

Aleksandr Guryanov said that an agreement on trade and economic cooperation in the area of deliveries of oil and oil products had been signed. Belarusian and Kazakh commercial entities will discuss specific volumes and time for oil deliveries soon.

Representatives of the Belarusian state petrochemical concern Belneftekhim told BelTA that the agreement had been signed as a continuation of many years of work meant to enable mutually beneficial conditions for the development of the energy market of Belarus and Kazakhstan on a bilateral basis and as part of the Eurasian Economic Union. The agreement creates the legal conditions for stepping up cooperation in the petrochemical sphere where specific bilateral projects will be discussed by specialists of the two countries, Belneftekhim stressed.

Aleksandr Guryanov noted that the negotiations had focused primarily on stepping up trade and economic cooperation and had examined new opportunities for advancing manufacturing cooperation. “Today we see that there is positive dynamics in mutual trade. We continue increasing export. Shipments from Kazakhstan to Belarus are on the rise as well. This year we have to reach new foreign trade figures – over $1 billion worth of foreign trade in merchandise and services,” the official said.

“We aim for balanced trade. It is no secret that Belarus' export to Kazakhstan was mainly prevalent in previous years. But this country is developing industrially and we see new opportunities for selling Kazakh products on our market,” Aleksandr Guryanov added.