The trade between Ukraine and Belarus in January-October 2020 fell by 23.5%, Ukrainian Ambassador to Belarus Ihor Kyzym has said.
“In the first half of the year [last year], we saw a decrease in trade turnover by 23%. This is our statistics. If we take for 9-10 months, this is 23.5%,” he said at an online discussion organized by the Foreign Policy Council Ukrainian Prism on Jan. 12.
According to Kyzym, the first reason for such an indicator of trade and economic relations between the two countries was precisely the COVID-19 pandemic, and not the internal situation in which Belarus is now, due to which official relations between Ukraine and Belarus at a high and highest political level were suspended.
“As for economic diplomacy as such, in my understanding, it did not stop. It is obvious that it had a slight impact on its slowdown. But in general, contacts continued,” he said.
As the ambassador said, the situation that has developed in relations between the leaders of the countries cannot but have a negative impact, which, together with the COVID-19 pandemic, prevented the main economic events from being held, namely the third forum of regions, which was planned for October in Grodno. The official visit of the President of Ukraine to Belarus was also canceled.
At the same time, Kyzym expressed the opinion that in general, by the end of 2020, the trade turnover between Ukraine and Belarus could amount to $4-4.5 billion, “which, as for me, from the point of view of our relations in the context of COVID-19, is not a completely losing option.”
The diplomat said that the introduction of economic sanctions against Belarus by the EU, as well as a possible package of U.S. sanctions, could have negative consequences for Ukraine.
“If this happens, then it is obvious that this will also negatively affect the development of our relations. These sanctions, which are introduced against business entities or even against individuals, will somehow negatively affect the attitude of our structures towards those [Belarusian] individuals or structures,” he said, adding that this will deter Ukrainian officials and businessmen from contacts, since they may be able to fall under U.S. sanctions.
In addition, the ambassador said that in 2021 the third forum of regions between Belarus and Ukraine, most likely, will also not take place. According to him, the idea of the forum was such that it was held under the auspices of two presidents, but while presidents Volodymyr Zelensky and Alexander Lukashenko are in power, such a meeting is unlikely to take place.
“One of them should leave. Something tells me that Lukashenko will leave earlier. But still, this is a question that will be very important for this forum, because without their [presidents’] presence, the forum loses a certain meaning,” Kyzym said.
