Belarus is interested in increasing its exports via Ukrainian ports, in particular, via the Odesa maritime merchandise port, the press service of the Odesa port has reported.

The press service said that Consul General of Belarus to Odesa Valentin Filipchik gave the information at a meeting with heads of the port's administration and trade union on August 21, 2012.

Filipchik said that the Belarusian economy is oriented to exports requires access to sea, as a large share of Belarusian goods and industrial raw materials is imported via Baltic and Black Sea ports.

The press service said that Odesa port, as well as other Ukrainian ports, is interesting to Ukrainian exporters due to two reasons: Baltic ports provide services at rather high tariffs of the European Union, taking into account criteria of time and distances, while transportation of Belarusian transit to Southeast Asia is preferable via the Black Sea ports.

At the meeting the sides came to the conclusion that the stirring up of the mutually beneficial cooperation could promote the designing of a comprehensive through tariff, which would include railway and port compounds.

The meeting participants agreed to prepare proposals for making a decision at the level of transport ministries of the two countries.

Odesa port is located on 109.5 hectares. The port is capable of processing over 14 million tonnes of dry cargo and 24 million tonnes of liquid cargo per year. The port accepts vessels with lengths of up to 270 meters and maximum draughts of 13 meters. The total length of the port's berths exceeds eight kilometers.