Polish vice PM welcomes Customs Union of Belarus, Russia, and Kazakhstan

• 14.01.2010, 14:01

According to him, the union creates new opportunities for Poland–Belarus business cooperation.

The Customs Union of Belarus, Russia, and Kazakhstan will create new opportunities for the Belarus-Poland cooperation, Waldemar Pawlak, head of the Council of Ministers of Poland, said in Minsk, Interfax informs.

"The Customs Union creates new terms for trade and cooperation between our countries,” Pawlak said at the session of the joint Belarusian–Polish commission on economic cooperation.

According to him, “Polish companies demonstrate their interest in cooperation, investments, participation in privatization in Belarus”. The Polish vice PM stressed that the country saw many opportunities to apply the Polish experience in privatization in Belarus.

Speaking about perspective directions of the two country’s cooperation, the head of the Polish delegation mentioned projects in the energy sphere, namely constructing a power plant in Zelva (the Hrodna region). As said by him, there are opportunities for cooperation on using brown coal in power industry. “We have knowledge and experience in this sphere,” he said.

Pawlak also said the countries have prospects in cooperation in oil and gas sector, chemical industry, and rail transportation. He noted private companies could contribute to the cooperation in these areas.

The Polish vice prime minister expressed a hope for closer Polish–Belarusian ties in the agricultural sector.

Pawlak said Poland was interested in supporting Belarus in the country’s economic and trade contacts with the European Union and welcomes Belarus’s intention to join the WTO. According to him, Poland stands for creating the conditions for concrete measures within the Eastern Partnership initiative. The Polish vice PM noted the programme would facilitate effective cooperation with Belarus.