Belarus Investment Forum
Church House Conference Centre, London, 18 November 2008
The first ever Belarus Investment Forum was held in London in November 2008. It was officially supported by the Council of Ministers of Belarus and the Еmbassy of Belarus in Great Britain.
The conference was dedicated to highlighting investment opportunities in Belarus. It provided an excellent opportunity to build relations between potential business partners and investors, and contributed to the positive image of this emerging economy as a business destination and investment partner.
A high profile delegation attended the conference from Belarus, headed by the Prime Minister, Sergei Sidorsky, who was keynote speaker at the event.
The opening plenaries set the stage, with leading names in Belarussian and international government and business circles talking about introduction of government support measures, including the legislative protection of rights for foreign investors, and special free economic zones with preferential taxation, customs and registration regimes.
The session organised after lunch was dedicated to the view from abroad, where representatives of foreign companies shared their experience working in Belarus.
The afternoon also saw a number of sessions designed to give international investors a look at specific investment opportunities in Belarus. The delegates were presented with various investment projects from such sectors as banking and financial services, tourism, infrastructure development, transport, machine-building, construction, real estate and agriculture.
Speakers included Lord Skidelsky, Professor Еmeritus of Political Economy, University of Warwick; Alejandro Jara, Deputy Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO); Andrei Kobyakov, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus; Adnan Kassar, Chairman and CEO, Fransabank Group; Craig Bell, Country Representative, World Bank Group; Vassily Matyushevsky, Deputy Chairman, National Bank of Belarus (NBB); Frank Kuijlaars, Global Head of Energy & Resources, RBS Global Banking & Markets; Georgy Kuznetsov, Chairman, Government Property Committee, Republic of Belarus; Patrick Butler, Member of the Board, Raiffeisen Zentralbank; Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede, House of Lords; Valery Tsepkalo, Director, High Technologies Park (HTP); Vladimir Goshin, First Deputy of the State Customs Committee, Republic of Belarus; Drew Guff, Executive Director, Siguler Guff & Company; Bronislovas Lubys, President, Confederation of the Industrialists of Lithuania, President, KLASKO, President and Chairman, Joint-Stock Company "AHEMA"; Oel Burkhard, Managing Director,Langheinrich Weberei-Ausrüstung GmbH; René Schlegel, General Director, Bosch Russia; Igor Makarov, President, ITERA; Helmut Duhs, Executive Director, SB Telecom LTD (Velcom); Alexander Muravyov, Director, ATEC; Tom Cradock-Watson, Partner, Ernst & Young Belarus; Uladzimir Novik, Deputy Chairman, Belarusbank.; Reinout Koopmans, Managing Director, Co-Head of Equity Capital Markets for Central and Eastern Europe, Deutsche Bank; Alexandr Rutkovsky, Chairman, Belinvestbank; Uladzimir Kaliada, First Deputy Chairman, BPS- Bank. The full list of speakers you can find in the programme of the event.
According to the participants the Belarus Investment Forum had an unprecedented success and attracted a high profile audience of leading figures from international business, finance and the media.
The conference was accompanied by a gala dinner and concert at the Sheraton Park Lane hotel.
