On May 16-17, 2019 the International Economic Forum «Innovations. Investments. Perspectives» will be held in the city of Vitebsk. The forum is aimed at establishing a business partnership and enhancing multi-industry trade and economic cooperation between the countries.

            Considering the possibilities of a promising partnership, Dnipropetrovsk Investment Agency (DIA) analyzed the foreign economic relations between the Republic of Belarus and Dnipropetrovsk region over the past year. It is worth noting that Belarus is in the Top-10 promising countries for the development of Ukrainian exports, according to the Ukraine Export Strategy for 2017-2021.

For many years, there have been close trade and economic relations between the Republic of Belarus and Ukraine, due to the geographical proximity and mutual integration of the economic complexes of both countries. Interaction with Ukraine in this area is pragmatic and productive.

An important trading partner for the Republic of Belarus among the Ukrainian regions is Dnipropetrovsk region. It accounts for 8% of the total turnover with Ukraine.

In 2018, the total turnover (goods and services) between Dnipropetrovsk region and the Republic of Belarus amounted to $ 403.5 mln. And in comparison with 2017, it increased by $ 109.4 mln or by 27.1%.

At the same time, exports of goods from Dnipropetrovsk region reached $ 103.8 mln, and increased of $ 1.5 mln or 1.5% compared to 2017. Imports of goods from the Republic of Belarus to the region amounted to $ 296.2 mln. And compared to 2017 it increased by $ 106 mln or 55.7%. Last year the balance of bilateral trade was negative for the region in the amount of $ 192.3 mln.

Mutual interest in the development of trade is evidenced by the fact that in 2016-2018, the dynamics of turnover volumes shows a growth trend.

 Export from Dnipropetrovsk region is carried out on 57 product groups. For most of the main commodity items, which constitute more than 57% of the exports volume, the products supply in 2018 increased.

With the TOP-10 major products, exported from the region, the largest volume is occupied by ferrous metals and products from them, paper and cardboard, as well as plastics and polymeric materials. Dnipropetrovsk region share in the global exports of these products to Belarus has stable indicators. Products that are purchased in the region are basically the imports that are necessary for the operation of Belarusian enterprises.

In 2018 it was provided access to the Belarusian market for such goods from Dnipropetrovsk region:

Thanks to the relations strengthening and the commodity distribution network development, Belarusian commercial enterprises increased the products supply from Dnipropetrovsk region in many product lines in 2018.

In turn, Dnipropetrovsk businessmen are interested in the following types of Belarusian products: ferrous metals (the figure has grown more than 4 times compared with 2017), land transport vehicles and mineral fuels, the imports dynamics of which show a positive value.

 In 2018, it was provided access to Dnipropetrovsk region market of such Belarusian goods:

For the following import items from Belarus, there was a significant increase in the products supply to the Dnipropetrovsk region market:

Assessing the foreign economic relations between Ukraine, including Dnipropetrovsk region, and the Republic of Belarus, it should be noted that they are able to optimally use the advantages of their geopolitical position, being a link between the West and the East. This is evidenced by the holding of the First Forum of Ukraine and the Republic of Belarus Regions on October 25-26, 2018, in which a large-scale exhibition of enterprises products and organizations of Ukraine and Belarus regions was held, the 7th meeting of the Ukrainian-Belarusian Advisory Council for Business Cooperation took place, as well as a number of sectoral events in the fields of economics, agriculture, ecology, education and science etc.

As previously reported, Dnipropetrovsk region was represented by the exhibition exposition «Dnipropetrovsk region. Open investment dialog», which aroused great interest among the delegations of Minsk, Mogilev, Brest and Gomel regions, as well as representatives of Belarusian enterprises. The Second Forum of Ukraine and the Republic of Belarus Regions is planned to be held in the second half of 2019 in Ukraine in the city of Zhytomyr.