Скриншот видео
Belarusian-Russian import substitution projects are expected to make domestic industry independent of imports by 2030. Belarusian Industry Minister Andrei Kuzniatsou gave this timeline in an interview with Belarusian television.
“I always cite 2022 as an example. Despite unprecedented sanctions, not a single enterprise in Russia or Belarus shut down. We continued working and are still working. We are also continuing with import substitution, so-called localisation, and joint products. If you look at it closely, our car, tractor and combine harvester, taken together, are 87% localised products, with production split 50-50 between Belarus and Russia.
Because, as we know, sheet metal is produced in the Russian Federation, and we source many components from there. So we are also working on a project in this area. We have integration projects in which machining is carried out by the Minsk Gear Plant. Gomselmash is replacing imported gearboxes with our own, domestically produced ones. In other words, it will be a Union State product. These 24 projects being pursued by our Industry Ministry will deliver results by 2030, when we will no longer have to talk about sanctions imposed on us by various suppliers from Europe and the West,” he said.
The minister noted that industrial output is expected to exceed last year’s level, while exports are projected to grow by 2%.
“We have turned the trends around. But challenges keep coming our way. We are feeling the impact of these global problems. However, we are learning to operate and sell in new ways amid these difficulties,” he said.
According to Kuzniatsou, unconventional solutions are needed in agricultural machinery manufacturing, automotive production and metallurgy. These measures are helping keep the sectors operational and maintain growth.
Kuzniatsou also noted a decline in inventories.
“Our inventories currently stand at 115% of one month’s production — just over a month’s worth. At the beginning of the year, they amounted to more than two months’ worth,” he said.