Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan to discuss state support for agribusiness

         State support for the farming sector will be considered at a meeting of the Prime Ministers of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia in Moscow on 15 April, Belarusian Premier Mikhail Myasnikovich told media at the ceremony to unveil a new technological line at Korelichi Len, BelTA reports. Belarus believes that state support for the farming sector should not exceed 10% of the cost of the agricultural produce. “We understand that for a big number of companies it will be a difficult task – to produce products competitive both in quality and cost. However, this measure is objective in the open economy,” the Prime Minister said. It has been earlier informed that Belarus should reach this level of support for the farming sector by 2016 in line with the agreement on the unified rules of state support for agriculture within the Single Economic Space. The document contains the norms of the WTO agreement on agriculture. In 2011 the state support stood at the level 16%, in 2013 it was lowered to 14%. The heads of government of Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan plan to discuss the main issues related to the development of the Eurasian integration and the preparation of the draft Eurasian Economic Union Treaty.