On 24 April 2015, the roundtable conference “Foreign Direct Investments as the Foundation for the Modernization of the Belarusian Economy” was held, where a team of Belarusian experts with the Association of European Business (AEB) presented, within the framework of the REFORUM project of the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies (BISS), the first version of the package of recommendations for the government concerning the improvement of Belarus’s business climate with a view to raising foreign investments.
When working on the list of recommendations, the experts explored the existing blind spots in the applicable regulatory framework, state institutional structure, possibilities for implementing international practices in raising foreign direct investments, and identified the most promising groups of commodities for investment for the purpose of enhancing the competitiveness of Belarusian export supplies.
According to Maryna Dymovich, Head of Legal at the Association of European Business, when it comes to the legal framework, the recommendations encompass, among others, inconsistency of legislation, complicated system of law administration, guarantees for investors, disinvestment, currency regulations, individual benefits and preferences for certain investors, application of penalties, etc.
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“The investment climate also directly depends on the effectiveness of management at the state level,” said Yauhen Mardasevich, Head of GR at AEB. He voiced proposals concerning the system of decision-making on investment projects, dialogue between the state authorities and investors, discrepancies between formal and informal institutions, and insufficient transparency of state regulation.
Maryna Barouka, Deputy Chair of AEB, spoke about the current economic challenges at the national level and listed areas that are deemed promising for attracting foreign direct investments in Belarus. Specific manufacturing projects and commodity groups (growth points) were mentioned — FDI in these initiatives and commodities will make it possible to diversify currency proceeds from Belarusian export sales.
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Jacek E. Giedrojć, the founder of Warsaw Equity Group, Andrej Filon, senior investment manager at LLC Zubr Capital, Natallia Nikandrava, director of the National Agency of Investment and Privatization (NAIP), Andrej Raščupkin, first deputy CEO of the unitary enterprise Coca-Cola Beverages Belarus, and some other participants in the conference shared their insights of challenges to efforts to attract foreign investments in Belarus, possible ways to address these challenges, as well as proposals concerning the recommendations voiced by the AEB experts.
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The list of recommendations will be finalized by the group of experts in line with the opinions expressed at the roundtable event and presented in the course of the conference “Minsk after Riga: A Forum on Reforms, or How Belarus Should Develop in the New Regional Contexts” on 28–29 May.