Belarus Brings 18 Producers to FHI 2026, Targets Long-Term Cooperation

The Belarusian government is seeking to develop long-term economic cooperation with Indonesia, particularly between businesses, through the participation of 18 Belarusian agricultural and food producers in the Food & Hospitality Indonesia (FHI) 2026 event. Belarusian Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food Alexander Yakovchits stated that his country is one of the world’s leading exporters of dairy products, including butter and cheese. “We see interest from businesses here in Belarusian products. We hope to cooperate within the framework of a strategic partnership and to maintain food security,” he said during the FHI 2026 event in Jakarta on Tuesday. He noted that 17 Belarusian companies have currently been accredited to export to Indonesia. “With the signing of the Free Trade Agreement for Eurasian countries by Indonesia last December, this certainly creates even greater potential for cooperation between Indonesia and Belarus,” Alexander Yakovchits added. In the same forum, Belarusian Ambassador to Indonesia Raman Ramanouski expressed hope that the presence of cheese, cake, chocolate, and beverage producers from his country at FHI 2026 would increase the value of trade between Indonesia and Belarus. “We see great potential in this exhibition because we can meet new partners and produce new agreements, form new partnerships with Indonesian companies, and of course, this is a great opportunity to increase our bilateral trade,” he said. Indonesia officially signed the Indonesia-Eurasian Economic Union Free Trade Agreement (I-EAEU FTA) last December. The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) is a regional economic bloc comprising Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia, and Kyrgyzstan. Recently, Indonesia and Belarus also agreed on seven priority areas of cooperation during Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko’s visit to Indonesia on 1-2 July. The agreements include industrial cooperation between the Indonesian Ministry of Industry and the Belarusian Ministry of Industry; cultural cooperation between the Indonesian Ministry of Culture and the Belarusian Ministry of Culture; and cooperation between Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority (OJK) and the National Bank of Belarus. Other agreements cover health cooperation between the health ministries of both countries; scientific and technical cooperation between Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) and the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus; cooperation on the exchange of intelligence reports related to money laundering, terrorism financing, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction between Indonesia’s Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) and Belarus’s Department of Financial Monitoring; and national accreditation cooperation between the Indonesian National Accreditation Committee and the Republican Unitary Enterprise Belarusian State Centre for Accreditation.