The 16th meeting of Belarus-Germany Working Group on Trade and Investment

19 December 2018

19-12-2018

On December 19, 2018 Minsk hosted the 16th Meeting of the Belarusian-German Working Group on Trade and Investment in the Industrial Park “The Great Stone”.

The Belarusian delegation was headed by the Deputy Foreign Minister, Evgeny Shestakov. It also included the Ambassador of the Republic of Belarus to the Federal Republic of Germany, Denis Sidorenko, the Head of the Administration of the Industrial Park “Great Stone”, Alexander Yaroshenko, representatives of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Economy, Energy, the National Bank, the National Agency for Investment and Privatization, Belarus Hi-Tech Park, the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry , “Bank of Development of the Republic of Belarus”, the Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange, “Belarusbank”.

The German delegation, led by the Director of the Foreign Economic Policy Department of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy, Eckhard Franz, included the Ambassador of Federal Republic of Germany to the Republic of Belarus, Peter Dettmar, executive representatives of the Eastern Committee — Association of German Economy for Cooperation with Eastern Europe, German Energy Agency (DENA), German Economic Team Belarus, Representative Office of the German Economy in the Republic of Belarus, German-Belarusian Economic Club.

The agenda embraced a wide range of issues of bilateral trade, economic and investment cooperation, interaction in the banking and credit sectors, as well as the organization of business administration training programs for Belarusian specialists in Germany.

During the working group meeting the prospects for increasing bilateral trade were discussed, including through the use of exchange trade instruments, engagement of the potential of industrial cooperation, extension of the presence of German business in Belarus in areas with preferential investment regime.

The attention was focused on the possibilities of cooperation between Belarusian and German companies in the field of digitalization and computer technology.

The results of the 6th Belarusian-German Energy Forum, held in October 2018 in Minsk, were positively evaluated and prospects for further cooperation in the energy sector were discussed.

The members of the Belarusian delegation informed the German colleagues on the systemic steps taken by the Government of the Republic of Belarus to improve the country’s investment climate.

The parties noted with satisfaction the positive dynamics in bilateral trade, the implementation of new investment projects with the participation of German business in Belarus.

The presentation of the Industrial Park “The Great Stone” was organized for the participants of the working group meeting, including overview of its’ infrastructure, as well as of the experience of a number of German resident companies in the Park.