MINSK, 4 February (BelTA) – Economic diplomacy remains the key priority of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reads the Annual Review of Foreign Policy of the Republic of Belarus and Activities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2018, BelTA has learned.

“According to the statistics, the Belarusian merchandise export amounted to $33.7 billion in 2018, up by 15.3% over 2017 or by $4.5 billion. This increase was achieved thanks to products of mechanical engineering and other goods with high added value,” the review reads.

The export to the EAEU countries increased by $0.2 billion, to the EU member states by $2.3 billion, and to the distant countries and other states by $1.9 billion. The EAEU accounted for 41.2% of Belarus' total export volume (46.7% in 2017), the EU 30.2% (26.8%), other countries 28.6% (26.5%). This means that Belarus has made further steps to diversify export and achieve equal distribution of exports between the three major markets.

The review also stated that Belarus aims to establish mutually beneficial cooperation with all the states, and its accession to the World Trade Organization fully complies with this aim. “We have stepped up the work on the WTO accession since 2016 and already approached the final stage of the talks. We are preparing the third edition of the draft report of the Working Group on Belarus' Accession to the WTO (the final document stating the conditions of WTO membership) which will be presented in February 2019,” the ministry says.

As of December 2018, Belarus completed bilateral negotiations on market access for goods and services with 20 WTO member states. Ten similar agreements were concluded in the last two years (six in 2017 and four in 2018). The talks are still underway with six more WTO members (Australia, Brazil, the EU, Canada, the USA, Ukraine).