17:06 Cavez's oil to miss Belarus
Venezuela's Hugo Cavez has promised 2 million tons of oil to Belarus annually. Where is this oil is going to end up and how our country's economy will benefit from the deal, our correspondent Aliaksandra Calej asked Belarusian economist Leanid Zaika. “The domestic demand for oil in Belarus is around 7-8 million tons, not more. This deal is not about supplying crude oil to Belarus. This is simply a commercial transaction about drilling and processing the oil and later receiving the money in Belarus. It is now hard to say when and how much money will be paid. By and large, the deal aims to produce a public-relations effect; it does not have a serious economic significance. The bottom-line is: we together with Venezuela drill oil, process and sell it to the North America, Latin America; we don't ship it far. It looks like a sort of outsorcing. This is a pure profit-making, nothing more," Zaika said.
