REPUBLIC OF BELARUS Opportunities for business cooperation Справочное издание Подписано в печать 14.12.2009. Формат 60х90/8 Бумага мелованная. Печать офсетная. Республика Беларусь. возможности делового сотрудничества Усл.-печ. л. 4,5. Уч.-изд. л. 4,6. На английском языке Издательство ЗАО «Юнипак». ЛИ № 02330/0150278 от 03.05.2008 Типография ИП «Альтиора – живые краски». ЛП № 02330/0150479 от 25.02.2009 Ответственный за выпуск В. Л. Дубовский Тираж 1500. Заказ 7153 Редактор С. А. Ищенко ISBN 978-985-6802-37-2 Перевод на английский Т. А. Горбель Компьютерная подготовка: М. Ш. Валиев, М. И. Лазук, О. Н. Павлова © Министерство иностранных дел Республики Беларусь, 2009 Фото: В. Л. Дубовский (обложка), из архива ЗАО «Юнипак» © Оформление. ЗАО «Юнипак», 2009 REPUBLIC OF BELARUS Opportunities for business cooperation MAIN ADVANTAGES .........................................................................................4 TRANSPORT .....................................................................................................18 HISTORY. PEOPLE. STATE ................................................................................6 LOGISTICS ..........................................................................................................20 CONTENTS INTEGRATION THROUGH ECONOMY .........................................................8 TIMBER INDUSTRY .........................................................................................22 BEST CONDITIONS FOR FOREIGN INVESTMENTS ................................10 BANKING AND FINANCE .............................................................................24 DEVELOPMENT PRIORITIES .........................................................................12 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES ...............................................................26 REGIONS ...........................................................................................................14 TELECOMMUNICATIONS ...........................................................................28 AGRICULTURAL COMPLEX ...........................................................................16 SCIENCE .............................................................................................................30 MAIN ADVANTAGES Belarus is the most dynamically developing country on post-Soviet territory. All regions have conditions favourable for the best start of your business. Legislative protection of the rights of foreign investors and preferential Geographical centre of Europe on the crossroads of West-East, North- taxation. Sole country in the CIS with an Investments Code. South. Longest border line with the European Union (Lithuania, Latvia, There exist six free economic zones (Brest, Vitebsk, Gomel, Grodno, Poland). Minsk, Mogilev) and High Technologies Park – free-tax havens New opportunities opening thanks to EU program “Eastern Partnership” for investors. with participation of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Belarus belongs to the group of countries with the highest human potential Ukraine. development index. It has a numerous middle class and presence Free entrance to capacious Eurasian market, participation in Customs of highly educated, disciplined labor force employed Union with Russia and Kazakhstan. in modern industries. Political, economic, social stability. Safe living, security. Low corruption Developed and various industrial, scientific, modern infrastructure with high level. level of information technologies. Fourth place in the world among the top reforming countries in respect Two pan-European transport corridors. Broad transport network. to business doing legislation improvement according to the Doing Business Low operational costs in the country capital Minsk and, specifically, 2010 report of the International Financial Corporation and World Bank. across the regions. 4 5 HISTORY. PEOPLE. STATE Belarus is an independent state in Europe, a country with unique nature, millennia-long history, rich culture and vast opportunities for development. Belarus ranks 13th in Europe for its territory area (207.6 thousand sq. km.). The capital is Minsk with population exceeding 1.8 million people. It’s just slightly smaller than Great Britain, Romania, almost twice as large as Main religions: Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Protestantism. There are also Portugal, Hungary and almost five times bigger than the Netherlands. Islam and Judaism followers. Country length from north to south is 560 km and from east to west – People of Belarus are hard-working, committed, patriotic, tolerant, patient 650 km. Distance from capital Minsk to Warsaw is 550 km, Moscow – 700 km, and persistent. Kiev – 579 km, Vilnius – 185 km, Berlin – 1140 km, Stockholm – 1419 km. Traditions and features of the national character were formed Populated by more than 9.670 million people (as of early 2009) and repre- in the course of complex history. The country was engulfed by many sented by over 100 nationalities. military conflicts, World Wars, national liberation revolts, revolutions The Republic of Belarus is a unitary democratic social and constitution- and repressions. al state. The supreme representative and legislative authority is bicameral The first convention of the RSDWP took place in Minsk in 1898. This party National Assembly. The President is a leader of the State. The supreme execu- later transformed into the Communist Bolshevist Party and in 1917 orga- tive authority is the Council of Ministers. nized a revolution in Russia. More than 2270 non-governmental and non-profit public organizations are The USSR and Soviet power collapse was initiated in 1991 in Viskuli registered including political parties, professional unions, creative unions, on the territory of Belovezhskaya Pushcha – the oldest natural reserve sports societies and other. on the territory of Belarus and Europe. Administratively, the country is divided into six regions (their centers – Minsk, The common historic past with Europe gave rise to traditions dating Brest, Vitebsk, Gomel, Grodno, Mogilev) which include 118 districts. 110 towns back to the Middle Ages, Magdeburg rights which many towns are located on their territory including 15 cities with population exceeding 100 used to have and to the code of local laws – Statute of the Great Duchy thousand persons, 103 urban villages. of Lithuania. 6 7 INTEGRATION THROUGH ECONOMY Belarus is deeply integrated into international economy. Export orientation of Belarusian production, which amounts to 60% of The negative balance of international sale was first of all caused by prices GDP and is constantly growing indicates openness of the economy. In 2008 increase for imported energy sources and raw materials. To rectify the im- export of products amounted to USD 32.6 bn. Belarusian products are ex- balance, there is a growth in services exports. In 2008, it amounted to USD ported to 139 countries. 4.26 bn and exceeded services import for USD 1.7 bn. Major consumers of goods and services abroad – Russia, CIS countries, EU From the start of 2000, Belarus demonstrates active improvement of invest- and, in recent years, countries of Asia, America and Africa. ment climate as an element of economic liberalization. It’s mentioned in the As of 1 January 2009, there existed over 4880 companies in Belarus studies of the World Bank, Heritage Foundation, UNCTAD, IFC and others. with participation of investors from over 90 countries. Joint ventures were In 2007, Belarus was assigned a sovereign credit rating by Standard & organized with German concern MAN (manufacturing of trucks), Carl Zeiss Poor’s. (production of optic goods). Among success stories are such foreign compa- In 2009, the agency re-confirmed long-term foreign and national currency nies as Coca-Cola Beverages Belorussia (production ratings of Belarus “B+” and “BB” correspondingly. of beverages), Restaurants McDonalds (catering), Chess-Bel (oil products For a second year in a row Belarus belongs to the top 10 countries-leaders, processing), Unomedical (production of disposable medical items), Freze- most active reformers of business activities regulation. nius (manufacturing of medical equipment), Mobilkom Austria Group (tele- As a result, the recent years have recorded a 2-3 times growth of invest- communications) and others. ments over GDP growth rate, with a share of capital investments perma- Import of goods in 2008 reached USD 39.4 bn. nently exceeding 25%. 8 9 BEST CONDITIONS FOR FOREIGN INVESTMENTS Companies and commercial enterprises with foreign investments have certain advantages. Belarus is the right country to embark on ambi- tious projects. For the past 5 years the inward foreign investments in the country for commercial companies except for banks and other non-bank financial organizations. amounted to USD 19.3 bn. Of those, the direct investments accounted Registration is performed on the same day when necessary documents are presented. for USD 5.7 bn, of them the worth of USD 2.3 bn received in 2008. Company liquidation procedure is simplified. Most appealing to the foreign investors were heavy industry (42.9% • For the state registration of a legal person it is only necessary to submit of the total volume of investments in 2008), trade and catering (8.5%), an application, charter and duty payment confirmation. transportation (6.3%), communications (4.1%), building (1.6%). • The country operates “One Stop Shop” for the investor. The capital investments focused, in the first place, on electronics, ma- • The Investment Code of