Belarus sold 1000 soft-end pens, 4 crates of vodka and 6 tractors to Burma

The official media in Belarus have evaluated the economic effect of the Belarus-Indonesia summit to reach $400 million or nearly the same expections after the visit by Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich to Muyanmar in late 2011.

"Several international and inter-government agreement have been signed. New contracts have been concluded to supply goods at a total amount of over $200 million. Among the major exports are potash fertilizers, automobiles, tyres and spare parts..."

The Ministry of Agriculture and Foodstuffs told Euroradio after the Myanmar visit that local residents were asking members of Belarus delegation what bread was about and whether it was eatable. Well, they asked for bread, and we supplied bread there. In 2012 Myuanmar bought bread in Belarus at the cost of $100.

What else do we sell to this country? We find the answer on the official website of Belarus Statistics Committee (Belstat) in the 2012 exports report. 

Belarus also sold chocolate there worth of $1000, cookies worth of $100, 3-4 crates of vodka worth $200 and other alcohol for the same amount. We also sold 3 suitcases to Myanmar. Perhaps, they were used to transport the exports?

The list of exported goods also includes printed matters worth $1200, 400 calendars, leather shoes worth $4200, another 1000 soft-end pens and the same number of usual pens.

How many vehicles? 6 tractors for $56,000. The export of tyres and spare parts was evaluated at $3000.

All in all, Belarus' exports to Myanmar reached a total of $100 000.

The official media reported about $26.6 million worth of exports to Muyanmar in 2011, i.e before the visit by the Belarusian government delegation.

For comparison, Belarus exports to Poland reached the level of almost $1 billion and $1.7 billion to Germany. What can we expect from Indonesia? In 2012, we exported goods worth of $91 million to Indonesia. Boris Zhaliba, doctor of econonmics, reckons the chances are small, but Belarus should give it a try.

"The economic situation forces the government to look for new markets. What statistics does Belstat give us? Only the growth of Belarus products in the warehouses. It is getting more and more difficult to sell our products. Burma is an undevelopped country. Indonesia is another story. Its population is over 200 million. One can sell anything there, even milk powder - the major export item of Belarusian agriculture. What we get the second Venezuela which is also far away and has crude oil." 

Mr Zhaliba is not optimistic about the relations with Indenesia and Singapore. But we need to pay back the loans, so the government is looking for new lenders in order to pay the old loans. It is also looking for new market for Belarus' products. But it makes no sense to strike a deal with Indonesia to build a meat-processing factory.

"Indonesia is not a huge meat producer like Australia. But because of their oil they can buy everything we can offer them. Of course, we should look for countries like Indonesia. This is a huge country that can swallow a lot. I do not know if they have managed to agree on the suppplie of milk powder. Surely, it would be great if we could supply at least several tractors, MAZ and BelAZ heavy trucks," says Boris Zhaliba.

Photo: BelTA