Belarus committed to cooperation with CIS, Savinykh says

      The past year has confirmed Belarus’ commitment to develop foreign political and foreign economic cooperation with the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, which are the traditional partners of the country, spokesman for the Belarusian Foreign Ministry Andrei Savinykh told media. He stressed that among the CIS countries there are several states the cooperation with which has grown into strategic partnership. These are Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Ukraine. Andrei Savinykh emphasized that 13 projects to assemble Belarusian machinery are currently in progress in Kazakhstan. In Azerbaijan, there are well-performing plants assembling Belarus tractors and trucks, mobile cranes, MAZ trucks, elevators, optical devices, LED lighting. According to Andrei Savinykh, Belarus and Ukraine also prioritize production and sci-tech cooperation with the prospects of advancing the joint product onto the markets of third countries. 
      In January-October 2012 Belarus’ exports to the CIS and Georgia (Russia not included) totaled $6.2 billion, up more than 30% over the same period last year. Belarus had a trade surplus of $4 billion, Andrei Savinykh added.