Business news

LUXEMBOURG, 27 October (BelTA) – Some 200 European businessmen are expected to take part in Belarus. Invest in Tomorrow forum which is due in Luxembourg on 27 October, Belarus’ Ambassador to Belgium with concurrent accreditation to Luxembourg Alexander Mikhnevich told the media on 26 October, BelTA has learned.

“The interest in the forum was shown not only by Luxembourg, but also by Belgian, French, German and Dutch companies. Unfortunately, the hall can accommodate only a limited number of participants, that is why we had to close the registration ahead of time. We expect at least 200 participants from the European business. Government and business delegations from Belarus have arrived and I hope that the communication will be fruitful,” said Alexander Mikhnevich.

According to him, Luxembourg was chosen as the venue for the Belarusian-European Investment Forum not by chance. “Today, Luxembourg is a country with the 5^th and 6^th economic paradigm, huge GDP per capita. It is interesting how such a small country has managed to achieve such impressive successes and what experience Belarus can adopt and share,” the ambassador said.

According to Alexander Mikhnevich, there are plans to sign a number of agreements during the forum. “For example, it is planned to coordinate with the European Investment Bank the projects that will be financed in the first place,” he explained.

“We are organizing a forum not only under the auspices of both the Belarusian and European sides, and the presence of European Commissioner Johannes Hahn testifies to this fact. This means that there will be a concrete agreement on how the Western European and Belarusian business can interact,” Alexander Mikhnevich said.

The main goal of the Belarusian-European Investment Forum is to create an effective and results-oriented, multi-level platform for establishing stable interaction between Belarusian loan and financial institutions and business entities with European partners and promote the strongest aspects of the Belarusian economy (IT, logistics) in Western business community.

Luxembourg is Europe's leading and world’s second largest investment center behind the United States. There are about 3,900 investment funds and 143 banks in a country with a population of a little over 500,000 people. The total capital of the Luxembourg financial system exceeds €740 billion.

IT is another strategic development direction of Luxembourg. The country claims leadership in the third industrial revolution, which is based on digital technology. The convenient geographical location of Luxembourg has helped attract German, French, Belgian and Dutch companies to the forthcoming forum.