«The head of state has emphasized support for our Belarusian exports and assistance to our enterprises. Given the position of the collective West, cargo flows have been redirected from the western route to the east. Currently, 85% of Belarusian exports and imports for Belarusian enterprises go through the Eastern route, the countries of Asia and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) countries,» Vladimir Orlovsky said.
Such a reorientation requires efforts from many government agencies, including customs. «And we provide maximum assistance to our enterprises. In addition, of course, we help speed up the movement of goods. We seek to make customs clearance both at the border and inside the country, and export and import operations, as fast as possible. Currently, import clearance takes up to two hours, export clearance takes just five minutes, and transit takes ten minutes. Such fast clearance facilitates the rapid movement of goods and, consequently, saves on costs and time,» Vladimir Orlovsky said.
«Of course, we are not standing still. I reported to the head of state that we are moving forward in this area. We are now developing new software products that will use artificial intelligence. In addition to electronic declarations and customs declarations, artificial intelligence will help us read paper documents, compare them with electronic data and assist customs officers in making decisions. This will make the process faster and more efficient,» Vladimir Orlovsky said.
But the key is to strike a balance. «We need to clear goods quickly, let cargo through the border quickly, and process people crossing the border quickly, while, of course, maintaining control, preventing violations of customs legislation and, most importantly, preventing dangerous goods from being brought into the country that could harm our citizens,» he said.
According to Vladimir Orlovsky, all customs activities are directly or indirectly linked to the budget. «This applies to any area of activity. The faster we clear cargo, the more the foreign trade operator will earn directly and, accordingly, the faster trade will grow. The more accurately we verify all the information, the more will go into the budget, because all the data will be taken into account and the maximum number of payments will be collected for the budget. As for law enforcement, if we prevent illegally imported goods from being legalized, we thereby help legitimate importers who make payments to the budget and contribute to its revenues. Virtually any action we take results in budget revenues,» he said.
