Call to improve mechanism of financing industrial cooperation in EAEU

The Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BelCCI) suggests improving the mechanism of financing industrial cooperation in the EAEU, Chairman of the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Mikhail Myatlikov said at the Eurasian Economic Forum in Yerevan, BelTA has learned.

Business ideas and support mechanisms are a particularly relevant topic in the current realities, Mikhail Myatlikov said. “There is a large-scale reorientation of export-import flows amid the ongoing sanctions pressure. It is important that the vacated niches are replaced by internal cooperation, rather than imports from third countries,” he said.

The most relevant mechanism for supporting joint projects is the mechanism of financial assistance to joint industrial cooperation projects, which involves reducing the interest rate on loans by an amount equal to 100% of the refinancing rate. “In general, the mechanism would seem attractive. The chambers of the EAEU countries have set up a project office for these purposes, defined its main functions, including counseling, search for partners, assistance in promoting projects and interaction with financial institutions. We have already held two onsite meetings in Belarus and Kyrgyzstan visiting enterprises, holding a large number of B2B meetings featuring financial institutions,” the BelCCI chairman said.

The BelCCI conducted a lot of work with the main industrial sectors. Those were individual consultations with hundreds of enterprises. “In general, we can note a certain restraint in the manifestation of initiative on the part of business. There are both subjective and objective reasons,” Mikhail Myatlikov explained.

He attributed the “3 plus” mechanism (a mandatory condition - a joint project of three EAEU countries) to the objective ones. “This, by the way, is one of the major issues raised, including by Belarusian business, at the stage of preparing the document. Some national economies do not see themselves as part of the the project, as the list of industries does not include agro-industrial complex and food industry. In this part, it would be desirable to change the scheme of trilateral projects, for example, to joint production of the two countries with delivery with procurement supplies to a third country,” Mikhail Myatlikov said. According to the BelCCI head, among the objective reasons are also no less attractive domestic support measures, the need to prepare a passport of the cooperation project and disclosure of commercial information, and others.

One of the important issues is the sale of products, i.e. the formation of conditions that give advantage to cooperative goods within the framework of state procurement, implementation of innovative programs. “In simple words, this is ensuring guaranteed state procurement at the Union level,” he said.

In this regard, Mikhail Myatlikov suggested considering the symbiosis of various support mechanisms with the formation of a broad list of advantages of cooperation. “For example, confirmation of a cooperation project simultaneously opens access to public procurement, various preferences, preferential financing, insurance, as well as measures to support joint exports (educational events, participation in exhibitions under the brand Made in the EAEU),” the chairman of the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry said.

Written by belta.by