The Prosecutor General of the Republic of Belarus Aleksandr Konyuk held a meeting on the measures taken to reduce foreign outstanding receivables

A meeting devoted to issues of reducing foreign outstanding receivables and recovery of foreign exchange earnings to the state was held in the Embassy of the Republic of Belarus in Moscow under the chairmanship of the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Belarus Aleksandr Konyuk and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus Vladimir Semashko.

The event was attended by the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to the Russian Federation Igor Petrishenko, heads of commodity distribution networks registered in the Russian Federation, heads of a number of large Belarusian manufacturing companies.

In his opening address the Prosecutor General reported about the decision to change criteria for evaluation of export in course of planned performance of economic entities. According to new approaches, it is not the cost of shipped goods to be calculated, but the volume of payments effected and the dynamics of change in overdue debts. “Dispatching goods to foreign buyers is only half of a task. It is more important that the shipped goods are paid for in due time and foreign currency comes into the country”, – noted Aleksandr Konyuk.

In 2017 delivery to the Russian Federation reached 44% of total exports, and in comparison with 2016 increased by 18.8%. At that, debts of Russian economic entities grew by 9.3% and reached the rate of USD 204 million.

The sectorial structure of debts did not undergo essential changes: leading roles remain with the enterprises of the Ministry of Industry, which are responsible for half of the debts.

Prosecutorial supervision over law compliance in this sphere of legal relations leads to the conclusion about the necessity of going away from promotion of products, especially marketable ones, through intermediary networks.

The Prosecutor General reminded about the provisions of the Law of the Republic of Belarus “On commodity exchanges” and the resolution of the Government according to which transactions with a certain category of goods shall be carried out through the exchange market of the Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange, which would allow for a maximum consideration of interests of a Belarusian manufacturer. “In the current year prosecutorial bodies will strengthen control over enforcement of the Law and will take most strict measures”, – assured Aleksandr Konyuk.

The participants of the meeting were informed about drafting of a Law directed at introduction of disciplinary liability for violation of requirements to transactions concluded through exchange markets.

Apart from that, Aleksandr Konyuk drew attention of those present to the fact that under the law, transactions with exchange commodities conducted out of stock trading are considered void, which entails corresponding legal consequences.

Heads of commodity distribution networks reported on the measures taken in order to reduce outstanding debts and repay the existing ones.

Summarizing the results of the meeting, a protocol of instructions was signed.