15th meeting of the Belarusian-Austrian Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation

19-03-2019

On March 19, 2019 the 15th meeting of the Belarusian-Austrian Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation took place in Minsk.

The Belarusian delegation was headed by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Oleg Kravchenko, the Austrian delegation was led by the Director General for Foreign Economic Relations of the Federal Ministry of Digitalization and Economic Policy, Franz Wessig.

During the meeting, the sides reviewed topical issues of mutual trade, cooperation in the fields of renewable energy and energy efficiency, tourism, agriculture, transport, regional relations.

Special attention was paid to interaction in the field of investment and finance, as well as such promising areas as the digitalization of the economy and information technology.

The delegations agreed on the implementation of a number of concrete steps designed to give an additional impetus to the development of cooperation in areas of mutual interest.

The agreements of the parties were reflected in the Protocol of the meeting of the Commission, which was signed by O.Kravchenko and F.Wessig at the end of the event.

For reference. In 2018, trade with Austria amounted to $ 171.4 million (96.6% compared to 2017), exports $ 28.4 million (149.5%), imports $ 143.0 million (90,3%).

An important component of the Belarusian-Austrian economic cooperation is trade in services. In 2018, the turnover of services grew by 67.8% and reached $ 185.3 million. At the same time, exports increased by 63.1% to $ 116.1 million, imports by 76.5% to $ 69.2 million.

Austria is traditionally among the largest investors in the economy of Belarus. In 2018, the volume of investments from this country amounted to $ 296.7 million (100.2% of the level of 2017).