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Belarus Foreign Economic Relations
By mid-1995 Belarus still relied primarily on Russia
and
other members of the CIS as its primary trade partners but
had
started looking to expand its economic ties beyond the CIS
(see
table 6, Appendix A). It turned to the EU, with whom it
signed an
agreement with the goal of gradual economic integration of
Belarus into the EU, as well as to markets in the east,
where it
was better able to compete. An example of the latter was
Belarus's trade of farm machinery and chemical fibers for
Iranian
oil in March 1995.
Although the total volume of Belarus's foreign trade
declined
by nearly one-third in 1994, the balance of its trade
(non-CIS
countries versus CIS countries) improved. Belarus's lack
of
reform of its domestic economy, however, has slowed down
efforts
to improve and expand its foreign economic relations.
In January 1995, Belarus signed a number of agreements
in
hopes that they would improve its access to foreign
markets:
trade barriers were lowered between Russia and Belarus,
and
Kazakhstan joined the agreement to create a free-trade
area
(however, one month later, the accord was still not
implemented).
Belarus and the EU signed an agreement to create a
free-trade
zone between the EU and Belarus. Under its terms, all
quantitative limits on imports from Belarus to the EU will
be
abolished.
Data as of June 1995
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