Belarus will build a port in the north-west of Russia

The authorities of Belarus have decided to create a port in the north-west of Russia, said the Prime Minister of the Republic Roman Golovchenko, transmits BelTA.

“The President was presented with several worked out options for further development of their own capacities. A decision has been made on one of them, it will be implemented in the very near future. This is the northwestern region of the Russian Federation,” he said.

Golovchenko added that we are talking about all types of cargo: fertilizers, timber and rolling cargo, as well as container transportation. In which port, how much the project will cost and how long it will be implemented, the official refused to specify, promising to tell about everything after the deal is closed.

“But the project will start working in the very near future. By the end of this year for sure,” he added.

Golovchenko also said that at the moment Belarus is cooperating with nine Russian ports on different seas, according to the results of the first half of this year, exports through Russian ports increased by 2 million tons of various cargoes.

Earlier in February, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko declaredthat after his request, Russian leader Vladimir Putin ordered to start building a terminal near St. Petersburg for transshipment of Belarusian potash fertilizers. Against the backdrop of Western sanctions in the spring of 2021, Belarus partially reoriented the export of oil products to Russian ports from Lithuania and Latvia. And due to new US sanctions against Belaruskali, the Lithuanian government terminated the agreement of the Lithuanian Railways on February 1, 2022 for the transit of Belarusian fertilizers to the port of Klaipeda. Since February 16, Ukraine has also introduced restrictions on the transit of potassium.

In May, First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Nikolai Snopkov reportedthat the direct impact of Western sanctions affected about 20% of the Belarusian economy and indirectly spread to the rest of it. Since June, European markets have been closed to Belarusian wood, ferrous metals and products from them, cement, tires for $1.8 billion, he said. GDP of Belarus against the backdrop of sanctions for the first half of the year decreased by 4.2%, follows from Belstat data.

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