Business news

11 Mar 2024

Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry unveils product promotion strategies

MINSK, 11 March (BelTA) – Head of the Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Exhibition Activities of the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BelCCI) Aleksandr Golovarev told BelTA how the BelCCI promotes domestic products in foreign markets.

Last year, the BelCCI was busy arranging business visits and hosting foreign delegations and diplomats. Such events always include business forums, B2B talks, and presentations. “Our main goal is to help businesses build contacts and find potential partners,” said Aleksandr Golovarev.

The Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry consistently works to expand cooperation with foreign partners, to ramp up exports and set a foothold on new markets. In 2023, the BelCCI held 543 foreign economic events. “The geography of contacts is very wide - we interacted with partners from 55 countries, including 31 countries of the far arc. We also actively worked with 59 regions of the Russian Federation. During this period, we arranged 84 business visits to 19 countries,” Aleksandr Golovarev said. “In 2023 a total of 28 exhibitions and expositions were organized in 15 countries, including 3 national expositions,” he informed.

Expanding the legal framework is seen as one of the ways to boost cooperation with foreign partners. “This is one of our key areas of work. We have signed 287 documents with partners. If we add the documents that our enterprises prepared, the figure will exceed 400. Last year alone, the BelCCI signed 31 documents. For the first time, during the visit to Equatorial Guinea, we signed an agreement with our partners from two chambers. We are very actively interacting with the regions of the Russian Federation, China. We are currently working on a number of documents with partners from Africa - Ghana, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Mozambique, Tanzania,” Aleksandr Golovarev said.

In addition, the BelCCI’s representatives abroad are also very helpful in building and expanding foreign economic contacts. These are, as a rule, established entrepreneurs, famous people in other countries. Today the chamber has 43 representatives in 34 countries, including Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East.

Business councils are one of the tools to promote cooperation. The Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry helped establish 24 business councils with partners from 23 countries.

The BelCCI regularly takes part in the Alexandria Gathers Friends festival, which is very popular. “In 2023, it was attended by representatives of 23 diplomatic missions, including 15 heads of foreign diplomatic missions. This year we have already embarked on arranging the visit of foreign diplomats to this festival, jointly with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” the BelCCI representative said.

The chamber holds training sessions every July. “This year, in addition to the meeting with Belarusian businesses, we will also award winners of the Best Exporter 2023 competition. We will celebrate enterprises and entrepreneurs in various sectors that have posted impressive export figures. We have already planned the ceremony and will hold it as part of the annual training sessions, this is usually the first ten days of July,” Aleksandr Golovarev said.

The BelCCI also holds the annual Trade Advisor Day. As part of the event, foreign diplomats visit Belarusian enterprises, cultural landmarks and hold B2B negotiations with Belarusian enterprises. After that business visits and other events are organized.

The BelCCI closely cooperates with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In February of this year, the BelCCI and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs signed a joint action plan in the foreign economic sector for 2024. This plan features more than 40 foreign economic events covering 46 countries. “We undertake to participate and accompany visits at the high and highest levels, to host foreign delegations, and to conduct business events as part of exhibitions and fairs abroad,” Aleksandr Golovarev said.