Programme
of the extended meeting of the Standing Committee of the Foreign Investments Advisory Council (FIAC) of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus

February 18, 2011
Minsk, Crown Plaza Hotel

09.30–10.00	Participants’ registration
10.00-10.10	Opening address of Roumas Serguei Nikolayevich, Deputy Prime-Minister of the Republic of Belarus
10.10-10.15	Welcoming address of Laschenko Pavel Anatolyevich, Director of IOOO “Ernst & Young”, FIAC coordinator from foreign participants
10.15-11.00 Section № 1 (reports: up to 15 min.)	Principal directions of the further liberalization of Belarusian economy within the execution of the Directive №4 of the President of the Republic of Belarus “On Development of Enterprise Initiative and Business Activity Promotion in the Republic of Belarus” 1. Pricing and Debureaucratization Issues. Tour Andrei Nikolayevich, Deputy Minister of Economy of the Republic of Belarus 2. Directions of Tax System Development in the Republic of Belarus. Ministry of Taxes and Dues of the Republic of Belarus Kondratova Larisa Aleksandrovna, Deputy Minister of Taxes and Dues 3. Principal Directions of Liberalization of Payment for Labor in Organizations of Real Sector of Economy Groushnik Piotr Petrovich, First Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Protection of the Republic of Belarus
11.00-11.45	Discussion
11.45-12.15	Coffee Break
12.15-13.00 Section №2 (reports up to 15 min.))	On urgent problems of the activity of the Customs Union of Republic of Belarus, Republic of Kazakhstan and Russian Federation. The Common Economic Space formation. 1. Customs Union of Republic of Belarus, Republic of Kazakhstan and Russian Federation – New Possibility for Business. Goshin Vladimir Anatolievich, First Deputy Chairman of the State Customs Committee 2. Problems of Tariff and Non-tariff regulations as well as of Trade Relations with Third Countries. Gourianov Aleksandr Yevguenievich, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus 3. Formation of Contractual and Legal Base of Common Economic Space and Further Integration’s Prospects. Tour Andrei Nikolayevich, Deputy Minister of Economy of the Republic of Belarus
13.00-13.25	Discussion
13.25-13.30	Closing address of Roumas Serguei Nikolayevich, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus

Within the enlarged meeting the issues of customs union, changes in tax laws, pricing, currency regulation etc. were considered.
The event was attended by over 130 representatives of foreign and Belarusian private businesses, as well as representatives of diplomatic missions, which were able to learn about changes in legislation, governing investment activities in Belarus, as well as to ask questions and to take part in the discussion.
The event was organized with the support of the Ernst & Young, coordinator of the FIAC from foreign companies and international organizations, and of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), co-chair of the working group on improving the investment legislation in the FIAC.
The meeting’s program and speakers’ presentations can be found here.
For more information about the FIAC activities you can contact the FIAC coordinator from foreign companies and international organizations:
IOOO Ernst & Young
Tel.: +375 (17) 209 45 35
Fax: +375 (17) 209 4534
E-mail: fiac@by.ey.com

The forum was attended by over 680 persons, including more than 450 of foreign representatives.
Among major participating countries are - Russia (46 members), Germany – 40, France - 21, England – 19, USA - 15, Lithuania - 10, Sweden and Poland - at 9 members from each country.
Among the outstanding figures of the forum are:
- K. Prunskiene, former Prime Minister of Lithuania, PhD, Professor (Lithuania);
- Sergey Glazyev, Executive Secretary of the Customs Committee of the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia (Russia);
- Sergey Krylov, Vice President of Government Relations of the Siemens Ltd. (Russia);
- P.A. Forestiere, Territorial Director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in Belarus, Moldova and the Caucasus countries (UK);
- Chantal Dupasquier, Head of Department of Investment Policy Reviews, UNCTAD (Switzerland);
- James Wilson, Director of the Business Council “Belarus – EU” (Belgium);
- Giovanni Salvetti, Managing Director for Central and Eastern European countries of the “Rothschild” Investment Bank (France).
The main event of the first day of the Forum was the Plenary Session. At this Session a number of proposals was made by foreign speakers for improvement of the future work with foreign investors in the country. The first day of the Forum four Round Tables were also held:
1. Customs Union and WTO. Priorities. (Moderator: Yevdochenko A., Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs).
2. Small and medium business in Belarus. Growth prospects. (Moderator: Tour A.N., Deputy Minister of Economy).
3. Privatization in Belarus. When? (Moderator: Pyatkov S.A., Deputy Chairman of the State Property Committee).
4. Financial market development: today and tomorrow. (Moderator: Kostyuchenko S.A., Chairman of the Board of the “Priorbank”).
According to Forum participants, the subject of Round Tables was of great interest for foreign investors.

The sum of investments is 288 605 thousand euros. Term of the contract is until 2021.
Five branch sections were carried out. Within these sections more than 100 investment projects were presented.
1. Power engineering and petrochemical complex. Energy efficiency and alternative energy sources (Responsible: Rymashevsky Y.V., Deputy Minister of Power Engineering).
2. Development of agro-industrial complex, food and light industries. Increase in performance and sales markets development.
3. Infrastructure: transport, logistics and tourism. Construction and housing and communal facilities (Responsible: Verkhovets N.P., First Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications).
4. Development of innovative technologies (Responsible: Voytov I.V., Chairman of the State Committee for Science and Technology).
5. Regions and free economic zones. Incentives for investors (Responsible: Zhabko P.K., First Deputy Minister of Economy).

Reference:
The exhibition presented the following projects:
1. Construction of a bridge across the river Dniepr on the road "Orsha-Shklov-Mogilev (layout of the Ministry of Transport);
2. Construction of the agricultural complex for the storage and maintenance of the aircraft in the business aviation airport in Vitebsk (panel of the Ministry of Transport);
3. Development of the territory adjacent to the building of the National Library of Belarus – “Eastern Beacon of Minsk" (a multimedia presentation of the Minsk City Executive Committee);
4. Information on Belenergo (stand of the Ministry of Power Engineering);
5. Construction of a delayed coking unit at JSC Naftan (stand of the concern Belneftekhim);
6. Information about the tourism potential of the Republic (panels - 4, a plasma screen);
7. Information on free economic zones (stands, booklets, handouts) and other projects.

At the Plenary Session the issues related to creation in Belarus the environment for economic development and investment activities, formation of a favorable investment image of the Republic abroad, development of small and medium businesses, banking system, entry of Belarusian companies to international capital markets, as well as tax and customs legislation improvement have been discussed. The experience of the implementation of specific investment projects in Belarus, including the residents of free economic zones and the High Technology Park has also been examined.
The Plenary Session was attended by over 500 participants, including more than 200 persons were representatives of foreign organizations from various countries, including Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, USA, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Turkey, UAE, Italy, Lithuania, Korea, China, Netherlands as well as representatives of the diplomatic corps in Belarus.
The meeting was attended by representatives from international organizations such as UNDP, International Finance Corporation, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
Coordinator of the FIAC on the part of foreign investors and international organizations was the company Ernst & Young.
Involved were branch ministries, concerns, regional executive committees and Minsk City Executive Committee, administrations of free economic zones, as well as Belarusian enterprises interested in attracting foreign investment.

The Council was created in 2001 for conducting its ongoing dialogue between the Government of the Republic of Belarus and foreign investors, international organizations, operating in Belarus, as well as for carrying out joint development activities to improve the investment climate in the Republic and to create a positive image of Belarus abroad.
The Council was formed of representatives of key ministries, corporations, committees in charge of state investment policy in the Republic, as well as of foreign investors and international organizations that contribute to attracting foreign investments into the Belarusian economy.

At the Session discussed were measures, taken by the Government to create a favorable investment climate in the country, considered were the Advisory Council activities results in 2004 and outlined were main directions of work in 2005. At the Plenary Session approved were drafts of the List of actions to implement FIAC foreign participants’ recommendations in 2005, as well as the communiqu? of the Third Plenary Session of the FIAC.