From decentralisation to centralisation. From blockchain to the cloud.

Theme “Blockchain: Fundamentals and Applications in Economics” ended.

 

At our Club Evening on 7 March we had the opportunity to welcome not only many club members but also quite a few guests. In particular, we were delighted to see representatives of large German companies: Michael Sargsyan, Director of Zeppelin Weissrusland, and Rifat Čiček, Regional Manager for CIS countries at Kühne&Nagel.

A large number of participants was probably also due to the very topic of the evening, which aroused great interest among those present. The March club evening was dedicated to current trends in the development of technology and its supporting public institutions. The topic of the evening was digital economy development, in particular, blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies, as well as the legal framework conditions in Belarus, especially the Presidential Decree No 8, which should facilitate further development of the said technologies in the country.

As an introduction to the topic, Hovsep Voskanyan, Head of Commerzbank Representative Office and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Club, outlined the principles of blockchain and cryptocurrency technology, with a special emphasis on the consequences of these technological developments for the financial sector.

The main speaker of the evening was Veronika Pavlovskaya, a lawyer at our Club member company Arzinger&Partners. She presented an overview of current opportunities and expected trends in the IT business, as well as in the digitalization of the Belarusian economy: Veronika told about the Hi-Tech Park and the Great Stone Industrial Park, about the current Decree No 8, and covered the current state of legislation in the practice of cryptocurrencies, tokens, and ICO in Belarus. The presentation found a lively response from the participants of the evening, which was reflected in numerous questions. The presentation showed great opportunities, but also highlighted many aspects that still exist in the technological, and above all, legal sphere, which need to be thoroughly worked out. It also became clear that the time frame of the Club Evening was unlikely to be sufficient to cover the topic in any depth. That is why we are particularly excited about the upcoming blockchain workshop, where the guest speaker Andrey Lankin from Wargaming will be taking a closer look at this new technological trend.

On 31.01.2018, a regular general meeting of the members of the German-Belarusian Economic Club on the results of 2017 was held. Hovsep Voskanyan, Chairman of the Management Board, chaired the meeting. According to the Statutes of the Club, the first part of the meeting presented the results of the Club’s work for the past year. Then the board members and cashiers of the Club were dismissed by the General Meeting.

During the General Meeting it was decided to increase the number of Board members to six. There were no elections for the Board this year, so at the next meeting a new member will be included in the Board. The next election will take place at the next General Meeting of the Club in February 2019. Mrs. Karin Kascheyeva and Mr. Klaus Jacobi were re-elected as cash comptrollers.

The tasks and plans of the Club for 2018 were then presented and discussed. By a general vote, decisions were made on important issues of the Club’s work, in particular on increasing the membership fee, on organising the 10th German Economy Day as well as the annual conference of German Economic Clubs from CEE countries. Furthermore, it was decided that a new format of events in the form of workshops and specialized seminars, which had already been held in 2017, would be introduced to add to the Club evenings.

In total, the meeting lasted about 2.5 hours and laid the groundwork for the Club’s work in 2018. We hope that the first results of the decisions made will be visible in the coming weeks.

The 2018 calendar of events was opened with the January club evening on 10.01.18. Traditionally, this first club evening served to give members the opportunity for comments and feedback on the club’s activities in the previous year, as well as any suggestions for the new year that has begun.

As a basis for discussion, Chairman Hovsep Voskanyan began by giving a brief overview of the past year – the events and activities held, as well as the budget fulfilment.

This was followed by an exchange of ideas for activities in the new year. The retention of the monthly club evenings, one or two business-oriented major events – depending on feasibility, as well as the end-of-year ball as fixed points of the calendar of events was welcomed by all members. There were some concrete suggestions for the implementation of professional or leisure-oriented events. The proposals and measures discussed will be incorporated into the agenda of the upcoming general meeting in accordance with our club’s statutes. The agenda will also include the important point of the current adjustment of membership fees, which was discussed in detail at the club evening.

The agenda will be sent to all members by 15.01.2018 at the latest for their information and submission of further proposals by 24.01.2018.

The December club evening prepared two special topics for discussion and was very informative. Our headliner for the evening was our guest of honour, Bernd Rosenberg, Deputy Chairman of the Board at Priorbank. However, even before Mr Rosenberg spoke, we were happy to give the opportunity to introduce ourselves to three new club members: representatives from Miory Steel, Mark Formelle and OBK Group. The new members did not miss this opportunity and had already been able to give a first insight into their companies’ activities, which led to further networking and subsequent discussion during the evening reception.

After the introduction of the new members Mr Rosenberg began his presentation. In his detailed and interesting presentation he not only introduced us to the status quo and the development prospects of Priorbank, but also gave an overview of the current situation in the banking sector in Belarus. The problem of digitalisation, which is increasingly affecting the financial world nowadays, was also touched upon. The participants then had the opportunity to ask questions of the referent, resulting in several lively discussions, which continued during the evening reception.

Overall, the evening was so well received that next year we plan to invite more club members as experts and thereby facilitate a thematic exchange of views between experts.

At the November Club Evening, we had the honour of welcoming the Ambassador of the Republic of Germany to Belarus, Peter Dettmar, as our guest of honour. Thus, Mr. Dettmar continued the long-standing and much appreciated tradition of annual visits of the German Ambassador to the BNEC Club Evenings. He gave a brief but informative overview of the current state of relations between our countries and shared his forecast of expected changes in the political, economic and cultural spheres of cooperation.

Mr. Dettmar talked about the Embassy’s planned activities, especially the planned and ongoing cultural events and exhibitions, which we also recommend:

– Exhibition at the National Museum of Art “Ernst Barlach – Kate Kolwitz: On the limits of the existential”

– International exhibition “Francis Scarina and His Age” with a presentation of a copy of the Gutenberg Bible from Germany at the National Library

– Exhibition “Death Camp Maly Trostenets. History and Memory”.

This evening, which was already special thanks to our guest of honour, was attended by especially many guests from Germany, which makes us very happy. A delegation from the Chamber of Crafts from Frankfurt/Oder headed by Managing Director Uwe Hoppe, numerous representatives of German companies as well as a member of the Saxon Parliament (CDU) Jan Löffler and his colleague were with us. As always, we hope that the ambassador’s speech as well as the final informal networking during the buffet promoted a productive exchange of ideas and opinions for the participants of the evening and that we will be able to welcome some visitors from Germany to our events more often.

If you listen to the widespread assessments of the Belarusian economy, you quickly come across the opinion that it is not easy to do private business in Belarus, why private business is allegedly underdeveloped in Belarus compared to the neighbouring and similar countries. At the October club evening we had an opportunity to meet two guests of our Club who – in absolutely different ways – proved, or are trying to prove, the opposite.

The evening was opened by Sergey Ryabukhin, Partner and Deputy General Director of Zubr Capital Private Equity Fund, the first and as of today the most famous structure of that kind in Belarus. The financial expert’s report was captivating, informative and honest. He touched upon the period when the Fund was established, when it spun off from the Atlant-M Holding, the first years of its formation, and shared very interesting considerations of cooperation with his colleagues from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the National Bank of Belarus. From the presentation we learned about the current situation of Zubr Capital, its recent achievements and plans for the future. Our guest also shared his view on the general situation in the country for the work of such funds. In the end, he presented the charity and social projects in which the fund participates. Special mention should be made of the planned publication of the “Entrepreneur’s Guide” for Belarusian start-ups, which aims at transferring the accumulated experience of the foundation’s management to young entrepreneurs.

The bison was followed by a squirrel. The director of the kindergarten of the same name, Agata Sidorovich, presented her project – the first German kindergarten in Minsk “Eichhörnchen” (translated from German as “Squirrel”). The kindergarten started its work on September 1 this year. It is opened not only for the Germans, but also for the Belarusians and representatives of other nationalities that are interested in raising their children in German. The day care centre’s routine is entirely in German and thus for expats it is a German-speaking alternative to QSI in pre-school education.

Both presentations prompted questions to the speakers and interested discussions among the Club members, which the evening participants were able to continue in the traditional buffet.