MINSK, Nov. 3 (BelTA) — Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange (BUCE) and Istanbul Commodity Exchange (İstanbul Ticaret Borsası, İSTİB) will join efforts to develop exchange trade in agricultural and timber products, learned BelTA from the BUCE press service.

BUCE and İSTİB intend to join forces in order to increase the volume of mutual trade between Belarus and Turkey by focusing on agricultural and woodworking products, the demand for which is constantly high in the two countries. Negotiations on cooperation between Belarusian and Turkish exchanges took place during a visit of a delegation from BUCE to Istanbul to attend MUSIAD EXPO.

During the discussion on promising areas of inter-exchange cooperation, Irina Narkevich, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of BUCE, suggested raising awareness in the Turkish business community about the opportunities and benefits of using the trading mechanism. on the stock exchange as an alternative option for doing business in Belarus. According to her, the lack of information is one of the main factors hampering the dynamic development of trade between Belarus and Turkey.

“The Turkish market is very interesting for us both in terms of sales of products produced in Belarus and imports of products demanded in Belarus. The exchange platform is an effective tool for establishing direct contacts between producers and consumers of two countries, which makes it possible to organize regular trade in such liquid basic products as lumber and dairy products. Moreover, Turkish companies already buy these products on our trading platform, although in small quantities. Therefore, I believe that the number one task for the near future is to raise awareness among Turkish companies, both large companies and SMEs. Of course, in this area we count on the support and assistance of the Istanbul Stock Exchange, whose members are more than 10,000 Turkish companies, for many of them the exchange could become a gateway to the market of Belarus and the countries of the Economic Union Eurasian economy,” noted Irina Narkevich.

The Belarusian side’s proposal was fully supported by İSTİB Vice President İlhan Koyunseven, who said he was ready to inform Turkish companies listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange about the possibilities of working through the platform. Belarusian exchange and to redirect commercial requests from interested Turkish companies to the BUCE. in the purchase or sale of property in Belarus.