NEWS
A working visit to Great Britain
 Sergei Sidorsky, Lord Mayor of City of London discuss financial cooperation Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky and Lord Mayor of the City of London Ian Luder discussed possible cooperation areas between Belarus and Great Britain in the financial area. According to Sergei Sidorsky, the goal of this meeting is to give new impetus to the development of the economies of the two countries during the global financial crisis, establish efficient cooperation between business and financial institutions. “The experience of Great Britain in the financial market development is of great importance for Belarus,” Sergei Sidorsky said.
Mr Ian Luder said that the current visit of the Belarusian Premier will boost contacts between Belarus and the European countries, between financial organisations of Great Britain and Belarus. “I hope today we will be able to strengthen our links and learn how Belarus is going to position itself on the international financial markets in the future,” Mr Ian Luder said.
 Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky has given an interview to Reuters news agency on November 17. The interview with Reuters featured the objectives and goals of the Belarus Investment Forum in London scheduled for November 18 and the expected outcome of the forum for the Belarusian economy. Sergei Sidorsky underlined that the Belarusian side expects the forum to give an additional impetus to the development of Belarus-EU economic cooperation.
The interviewers asked about most likely agreements and deals the forum can result in and their projected cost. According to the head of the Belarusian government, Belarus has received investment proposals in the areas of construction, machine-building and electronics. He added that the projects to be presented at the forum require investment $12-18 billion worth.
The interview touched upon the recent talks between Belarus and the IMF on a $2 billion loan and the utilization of these funds. The reporters asked if Belarus will engage in other negotiations to attract foreign loans.
Sergei Sidorsky spoke on the impact of the global financial crisis on Belarus and the measures undertaken by the Belarusian government to counter its negatives repercussions.
The reporters were also interested in the prospects of the Belarus-US political dialogue.
Belarus considers attracting foreign companies in life insurance
Belarus is mulling over a possibility of attracting foreign companies in the area of life insurance, Vice-Premier of Belarus Andrei Kobyakov told reporters in London on November 17.
“I am referring to the insurance companies – residents of Belarus. This is a principled position,” he said.
Insurance is one of the economic sectors where the government is going to take some liberalisation steps. “Most likely this is going to be the area of voluntary insurance,” Andrei Kobyakov added. According to him, so far voluntary insurance has accounted for the least share of the total volume of insurance services”.
Belarus is in complex negotiations with the IMF, Belarus Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov told media. The Vice Premier reminded, it does not mean Belarus will take a loan on any terms. The IMF should practise different approaches, believes Andrei Kobyakov. He explained, slightly affected by the global financial crisis, Belarus cannot take credit resources on the same terms as countries greatly affected by the crisis do.
BelTA reported earlier, the Belarusian government and the National Bank had requested the IMF to provide a loan as large as at least $2 billion for replenishing the gold and foreign exchange reserves.
The Belarusian side plans to receive the other part of the Russian loan in February 2009, Vice Premier of Belarus Andrei Kobyakov told. In his words, that goes in line with the agreement signed with the Russian Federation on issuing a $2 billion state loan to Belarus.
BelTA has earlier informed that Russia’s state loan will be extended to Belarus for 15 years at LIBOR+3% with a five-year deferment on the principal debt. The first part of the loan ($1 billion) will be given in 2008.
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The economies of Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan should deal with the global crisis using joint efforts, said Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky during a visit to Belarusian Autoworks in Zhodino on January 5. At present, the complementarity of the Belarusian and Russian economies is 60%-90% in certain kinds of cooperation. “Russia’s GAZ Group, KAMAZ and Grodno-based Belkard that supplies parts to Russia have stopped their production,” the Premier said.
The Government of Belarus issued Resolution No 2020 to introduce a new minimum wage.
In line with the resolution, the monthly minimum wage will amount to Br229,000, the hourly minimum wage – to Br1,360.
Only export-oriented and competitive companies will be supported by the state, said Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky at a session of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers to discuss the measures to maintain the stability of the country’s key and other enterprises on December 23.
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky thinks it necessary to accelerate the transition to the regional currency in the payments between economic entities of Belarus and Russia. He voiced this opinion at the meeting with Chairman of the Russia’s State Corporation Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank) Vladimir Dmitriev on December 20.
Belarus welcomes any investors who have concrete plans concerning the period of projects implementation and projects financing, Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Viktor Burya told.
Belarus is interested in liberalizing mutual trade with the European Union, Vice-Premier of Belarus Andrei Kobyakov said as he met with the head of the EC Delegation in Ukraine and Belarus, Mr Jose Manuel Pinto Teixeira, in Minsk on December 18.
By the end of 2008 the Government of Belarus will pass
new legal instruments to facilitate administrative procedures and liberalise the economy, Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky said on December 17
during the Belarus Government Quality Achievements Award 2008 ceremony.
Fishman Group is ready to put $500 million in the
construction of a set of facilities in the Belarusian High-Tech Park, company’s co-owner Eliezer Fishman told reporters after his meeting with Prime
Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky on December 17.
Some Br590 billion was saved in 2008 due to streamlined financing of innovation projects, Vladimir Matiushkov, Chairman of the State Science and Technology Committee of Belarus, said at a session of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers chaired by Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky on December 16.