International ConstructionWorX
CEA Scoping Mission to Belarus
– an Unexpected Country As Brexit draws closer, the CEA’s international team search for new export opportunities. Belarus was cited by CEA members as a market of interest. With support from the British Ambassador and her outstanding team at the British Embassy in Minsk, the CEA took its first trade mission to Belarus in December 2017. Belarus is a major manufacturing centre for both construction and agricultural equipment. Having been the industrial hub for the former USSR, one company alone was manufacturing over 80,000 tractors a year. Even now, when orders have dropped from Russia, it still produces around 40,000 tractors per annum. Other state-owned enterprises manufacture dump-trucks, wheeled loaders, agricultural, mining and other heavy equipment. Belarusian manufacturers are increasingly looking westward for new markets and are in need of more sophisticated componentry to bring
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equipment up to a standard to meet the demanding criteria of the more developed western markets, creating opportunities for the U.K.’s construction equipment supply chain. Most manufacturers in Belarus are still state owned, but a new breed of privately owned companies is emerging with forward thinking engineers and R&D teams producing modern designs and a long line of products. In addition to the manufacturing sector, Belarus is investing in wide ranging upgrades of its domestic road network. A significant upgrade to the International airport is ongoing and using equipment with UK components. The Chinese New Silk Road project will pass though the country. Day one saw Missioners briefed on many aspects of Belarus and doing business including: the World Bank on the macro and micro economic climate of Belarus - the World Bank is forecasting continued GDP growth of 2.1% in 2018. The International Finance Corporation on investments, experts on taxation, legal matters, pricing, import duties and tariffs and channels to market. A press conference allowed Missioners to introduce their products to Belarus, generating good coverage in print, online and the radio. Representatives of the Ministries of Industry, Foreign Affairs, Transport (Belarusian Institute of Road Construction), Metrostroy (underground system) and the British Chamber of Commerce received presentations from Missioners and reported on the duties of their ministries. The first day culminated in the signing of a letter of intent between Perkins and