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.

On 27 September an international conference “PPP in Germany and Belarus: comparative analysis and recommendations” was held at the President Hotel in Minsk.

The conference was co-organised by the German-Belarusian Economic Club, the law firm Arzinger & Partners and the National Agency for Investment and Privatisation (NAIP). The German Embassy in Minsk took over the patronage of the event. The conference was supported by many renowned partners, including: Delegation of the European Union in Belarus, as the General Partner of the conference – Representative Office of German Economy in Belarus, as the information partner – publishing house OWC-Verlag, as the partner – SCHNEIDER GROUP.

The conference had several objectives. Above all, it was to once again draw the attention of a wide interested public to the topic of PPP, which is important for the development of the Belarusian economy in general and for the intensification of German-Belarusian relations. The conference was supposed to be another opportunity to exchange experiences and views – both with German experts for the analysis of German PPP best practice models, and between representatives of government agencies and private businesses, i.e. potential investors in Belarus. This analysis and exchange should have promoted the development of synergy effects, the emergence of interest in the topic and the finding of new points of application for economic cooperation. Last but not least, the conference was to produce a newsletter with proposals for optimising the framework conditions for the development of PPPs in Belarus.

For this purpose, well-known German and Belarusian experts, who have extensive experience in researching the topic and developing the legal foundations as well as in developing and implementing concrete PPP projects, were invited. A detailed discussion of the specific aspects of PPP took place in three podium discussions. The conference programme is available here.

In accordance with its task, the conference was intended for experts from politics and economy of both countries – representatives of Belarusian and German administrations, ministries and authorities, German and Belarusian companies, analytical centres and scientists from both countries who work in the field of research and, of course, members of the public in Belarus.

More than 150 participants testify to the good attendance of the conference, which earned positive feedback from speakers and visitors alike. The success of this event supports us as DBWC in our ambition to further intensify cooperation between our countries by developing and initiating contacts.

The weather was not very nice this summer, but the Club still managed to take advantage of one of the last warm and dry days in September to organise an excursion to a horse farm in Butsevichi. More than 20 people, members of the Club, with their relatives and friends gathered for the trip, and on Saturday, 16 September, we all travelled together to Butsevichi.

The horse farm, which has various accompanying attractions in addition to the stables, is located about 30 km to the north of Minsk, so the whole trip there takes less than an hour. Immediately upon arrival, we were met by a cowboy on horseback and taken to the open riding arena, where all participants – under the guidance of trainers, of course – were able to try themselves as riders. The farm staff took professional care of the little and big riders, so that everyone could enjoy the basic elements of horseback riding: boarding, riding at a walking pace and even a light trot. Their own exercises on the horse were definitely the highlight of the day, but not the only reason for their high spirits. The approximately four-hour programme of our stay at the stud farm also included air rifle and archery, horseshoe throwing, musical and dance performances, and of course a visit to the stables. While we were getting acquainted with the four-legged inhabitants of the stables up close, the owner and trainer Alexander shared with us various informative and entertaining facts about the life of horses and the lives of his pets. At the end of the informative and emotional tour visitors had the opportunity to feed the animals with brought carrots and crumbs, which contributed to a positive mood not only among our young visitors. The hosts also took care about daily bread: we were offered a grill and homemade herbal tea, so we were able to go home after being refreshed.

The trip to the countryside was very enjoyable and brought a lot of good impressions and emotional relaxation. As it was a great pleasure for everyone, the Club will continue to offer such excursions in the future, as we have the opportunity to do so.

The German economy in Belarus is picking up speed – and this time also in the literal sense. On 6 August 2017, the club organized a karting race for its members.

The event took place at the Kartland karting track and lasted a little longer than an hour. A total of six brave drivers, supported by friends and family engaged in three hot races on a two-storey track. Healthy ambition and friendly togetherness created an always cheerful atmosphere.

Mr. Korzovnik from our club member BonHotel set best marks in two of the three heats and thus secured the first, unofficial karting title of the DBWC. But the challengers are out for revenge in further races.

Since 2010, the German Economic Team in Belarus (GET Belarus), together with Belarusian and foreign experts, has published an annual analytical study, “Belarus: Macroeconomic Outlook”, which provides an analysis of the current state of the Belarusian economy and its development forecast for the next 12 months. Over the past few years GET Belarus has proved to be the most objective and reliable source of information.

Thanks to the Club’s close cooperation with GET Belarus, of which we can be rightfully proud, since 2014 the Club members have been among the first to receive exclusive information from the new Forecast, the results of which GET Belarus experts present every year at one of the Club evenings. Also this year Alexander Knuth, GET Belarus expert, continued this great tradition with his speech.

Mr. Knut started his report with macroeconomic analysis. Mr. Knut mentioned positive signals of economic growth, especially in some sectors, such as industrial production, but said that the trend so far cannot be regarded as absolutely stable. Despite GDP growth in the first half of the year, a fall in GDP should generally be expected in 2017.

Inflation is slowing down and is within the forecast parameters, which is why the work done by the National Bank was noted positively. Mr Knuth mentioned the decline in real incomes and the associated spiral effects on the economy, but noted that this development was in line with the overall difficult economic situation in the country. The report concluded with a very optimistic forecast for 2018, according to which GET Belarus, as well as other experts, expect positive economic growth in Belarus – primarily due to a recovering domestic economy, increasing demand from major importing countries, and rising prices in the commodities sector.

The evening traditionally ended with relaxed networking and an exchange of views as part of a festive buffet.

We were delighted to welcome two experts in the Belarusian real estate market to our Club Evening in June. The evening opened with a presentation by Andrei Pavlyshko, Partner and Managing Director of Colliers International, one of the first international companies in the commercial real estate segment in the country. Mr. Pavlyshko introduced us to the history of the development of the commercial real estate market in Belarus for the last 10 years and Colliers International’s successes and achievements during that period and presented the current situation of the real estate market in Belarus. Then Mr Artem Zhdankov, Project Manager of Your Capital Company, the largest real estate agency in Minsk region, shared the information about the current situation, price policy, demand structure and vacancy level of the commercial and residential real estate market.

Both reports, perfectly complementing each other, gave a complete picture of the current situation in the real estate segment in Belarus. The reporters informed about prices, tendencies and forecasts of development of the real estate market in Belarus, pointed out difficulties and opportunities in various segments of the market. In a relaxed dialogue all the participants were able to discuss specific requests and ideas with our referents and thanks to this during the evening we have already reached agreements on possible future cooperation.

We were also delighted to welcome numerous guests to our Club Evening: Lars Schmidt, Lecturer of the German Academic Exchange Service, BSEU, Vladimir Turavinov, Chairman, Director of the Executive Board of the Vitebsk Regional Union of Employers, Alexander Bunis, Managing Director of the company “OPK”, Semen Antipov, Financial Director of “OPK”, Alexander Trukhanenko, Director of the travel and consultancy company “Kobzar”, Inna Strelnikova, image-maker.