Opinions & Interviews

“The forum revealed serious interest of the British circles in contacts with Belarus. The investors came from all the regions of the UK and virtually all the branches of economy ranging from large to small business, those, who already do something in Belarus, and those, who still think about starting their business in our country,” noted Alexander Mikhnevich. In his words, many British participants of the forum were impressed by the sincerity and objectiveness of the statements made by the companies, which are already represented in Belarus, as they were describing the comfortable working environment in the country. “Many companies that work in Belarus have recently drastically stepped up their operation and continue doing so,” he stated.

As far as bilateral cooperation is concerned, in particular, negotiations were held with a company that sells tires in the UK and the entire Northern Europe. “The proposals were full of promise. It is now necessary to wrap up the commercial side of things. I think this contact will be of great important for [the Belarusian tire maker] Belshina, for promoting the company’s products to this rather demanding market,” said Alexander Mikhnevich.

Negotiations were held with the company CRH, which is interested in being part of the Belarusian cement market. “Our potash company also held negotiations on supplying fertilizers to the UK. It is a rather landmark project, because such supplies were very limited in the past and, as a rule, via mediators,” noted the First Deputy Foreign Minister of Belarus.

A meeting with Suma Chakrabarti, President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, took place. “We summed up results of the recent visit of the delegation of the board of directors to Belarus. Their opinion of what they saw, what they faced in Belarus was very positive. Suma Chakrabarti gave consent to arranging his official visit to Belarus in H1 2015. Belarus has not welcomed such a visit yet,” stated Alexander Mikhnevich. In his words, an agreement was also reached on an expanded package of operations for small and medium business and the public utilities industry of Belarus.