A delegation of the Minsk City Executive Committee has been invited to the Belarusian-Latvian Investment Forum to be held in Riga on March 4-6, said Tatyana Kravchenko, Acting Chairman of the Economy Committee of the Minsk City Executive Committee.
Over 40 Belarusian companies have expressed their wish to participate in the Forum. Tatyana Kravchenko said that at the Forum they would continue the dialogue that was initiated during the Investment Forum "Minsk – Riga", which was held in the Belarusian capital on February 16-19.
"There were round tables, meetings at the ambassadorial level, Presidents of Chambers of Commerce of both countries. Both sides showed their mutual interest", reported the head of the Economy Committee. "Moreover, as components from EU countries are used in Belarusian products and technology, our companies are interested in establishing joint ventures in the territory of Latvia. This would entail a significant reduction in production costs. Customs duties could be avoided too. The Minsk Automobile Plant has started joint assembling of trucks in Latvia, and the effect is huge. A similar proposal has been received by "Belkommunmash» and the Minsk Tractor Plant", she added.
In the foreign trade of Minsk Latvia takes 8th place for exports. In 2010 exports grew by 15 times and reached 124 million dollars (in 2009 it was only 8 million). The Baltic Republic gets machinery and petroleum products that are shipped from the Belarusian capital. As for imports (mostly seafood) they grew by 3% and made up about $ 35 million.
