Food security and energy independence - how Belarus will fit into investment programs of Eurasian Development Bank

Undoubtedly, investment is the lifeblood of any economy. In our reality, a reliable investor is like a faithful partner willing to cooperate sometimes despite, not thanks to, perturbations on the continent. And it must be said, we have such partners. 

This week, the Eurasian Development Bank showed its credit portfolio, which is similar in goals and objectives to our Development Bank. But the scale is different encompassing the entire Eurasian space, Belarus, including. 

Time dictates the priorities. That's why, when presenting new projects (the presentation was held in Armenia), they talked so much about food security and energy independence. Strengthening those sectors is vital for all together and for each country separately.

Nikolai Podguzov, Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Development Bank: 

“Globally, we have formulated three priorities for ourselves. This is transport and logistics infrastructure, this is infrastructure and issues related to food security, this is the solution of problems associated with water and energy issues. As a whole, energy security is also one of the priorities of the bank.”

The world energy industry is at a new stage of development. Strengthening of integration ties is one of the manifestations of the moment, so the desire for a common electric power market in the EAEU is quite in line with the trends of the times. Moreover, the energy sector determines the development of national economies and their competitiveness in the world markets. 

Alexander Gareyev, Director of the Energy Directorate of the Eurasian Development Bank: 

“Belarus has quite interesting technologies to provide electricity from biofuels. This kind of technology seems promising to us in the future. We would like to look further at companies that deal with this technology, from the point of view.”

We find it hard to believe (we are so used to our milk and meat), but even in Eurasia not everyone can provide for themselves. Dependence in this sense is a bad strategy today, admits the Minister of Economy. This is the time for all who have not yet done so to reassess priorities. 

Nikolai Podguzov, Chairman of the Eurasian Development Bank: 

“Sometimes up to 40% of the harvest spoils, does not get into the system. To ensure that this harvest is properly harvested and stored, to have a fast and efficient system of transportation and access of this food to Eurasian markets, it is necessary to create a  reliable system of logistic routes.”

This will be a large Eurasian commodity distribution network, a kind of logistic pipe with minimal costs in logistics and product storage. The top manager noted that they plan to design the system within a year a nd after that not to delay the implementation. 

Nikolai Podguzov, Chairman of the Eurasian Development Bank: 

“It will affect the availability of food. It will affect the stability of food prices, which is now one of the main factors of inflation, but in the end it will provide a better quality of life for people. We can't do without the Belarusian food industry, without logistical solutions, without your major producers.” 

In total, the Eurasian Development Bank expects to invest about $1 billion in the Belarusian economy in the next five years. If there are quality projects, the bank will not limit itself to this round sum. Our industrialists are of special interest. They, just like the agrarians, are also capable of making Eurasian integration self-sufficient in many ways.