BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

10/11/2006

Belarus leader arrives in Moscow for talks with Putin

Source: Trend

(RIA Novosti) - The president of Belarus arrived in Moscow Friday for talks with his Russian counterpart on bilateral issues, including Russia's oil exports to its ex-Soviet neighbor, reports Trend.

Earlier Friday a source in the Kremlin said that Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin will discuss measures to prevent losses being inflicted on the Russian budget from oil supplied to Belarus, refined there, and exported to third countries.

The source said the volume of crude supplied to Belarus significantly exceeds the country's domestic demand, and the Russian budget sustains major losses from exporting its oil duty-free to Belarus, which sells it to third countries after refining, since "all taxes go to the Belarusian budget."

The source said bilateral trade is expected to reach a record $20 billion in 2006 compared to $15.8 billion in 2005.

In January-September 2006, trade between the countries grew by 30.7% year-on-year.

Source:

http://www.trend.az/?mod=shownews&news=31564&lang=en