MINSK, August 1 (RIA Novosti) - The prime minister of Belarus said Tuesday the volume of the country's exports to its neighbor Russia would fall by almost 60% in 2006 to $6.5 billion, against $15.8 in 2005.
Sergei Sidorsky said the decline would be largely due to the considerable decline in the export of crude oil to Russia.
"Belarus is redistributing its exports of crude oil and petroleum products to other countries," Sidorsky said.
The prime minister said Belarus intended to promote its exports in Russian regions. He said the construction of a Belarusian pavilion at the all-Russian Exhibition Center in Moscow was almost completed, and negotiations on the construction of a logistics center for Belarusian goods in the southwest of Moscow were in progress.
"Belarus may lose markets without full cooperation and the forming of joint ventures with Russian industrial companies," Sidorsky said.
