Belarus plans to achieve a positive foreign trade balance by 2013

July 27, Minsk / Lyudmila Sats - BELTA /. Belarus plans to achieve a positive foreign trade balance by 2013. This was stated today by Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky at a meeting of the Council of Ministers, according to a BELTA correspondent. According to Sergei Sidorsky, based on the results of the first half of 2010, the qualitative parameters of economic development and balance have improved. Thus, it was possible to achieve an excess of the growth rate of goods exports over the growth rate of imports by 12.9 percentage points. In January-May 2010, the negative balance of foreign trade in goods was $500 million less than in the same period of 2009. "This indicator is the main one for us. For the last 8 months, we have been actively working on sectoral and regional programs, including those aimed at achieving a positive balance by the end of 2012," said Sergei Sidorsky. He also added: "If the rate of balance reduction ($500 million every half-year) is maintained and the programs that we agreed upon for the current and 2011 years are implemented, there are all grounds to achieve a positive trade balance by January 1, 2013, in accordance with the parameters we are setting for the next five-year period until 2015." -0-