About Belarus

Belarus (Belorussia, Byelorussia, officially, the full name of the country is Republic of Belarus) is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia (900km) to the north and east, Ukraine (975 km) to the south, Poland (407 km) to the west, and Lithuania (660 km) and Latvia (176 km) to the north. Its capital is Minsk.

Most of Belarus´s population of 9.85 million are native Belorussians. The country has had two official language but most widly used is Russian.

Belarus declared independence in 1991, it became one of the succession republics of Soviet Union. Belarus is a founder memeber of the Commonwealth of Independent States and there is strong foreign and political orientation to Russia.Alexander Lukashenko has been the country's president since 1994.

Population

Belarus is multinational state, there live more than 100 nationals.Ethnic Belarusians constitute 81.2% of Belarus's total population.The next largest ethnic groups are Russians (11.4%), Poles (3.9%), and Ukrainians (2.4%).

Area

207.600 km².

Official language

Since a referendum in 1995, the country has had two official languages: Belarusian and Russian, spoken at home by 36.7% and 62.8% of Belarusians, respectively. Minorities also speak Polish, Ukrainian and Eastern Yiddish. Russian language is widely used at universities and also have great economic importance . Almost all the businesses as well as penetratinng into the market are done in Russian . The first contact, except state determined business cases, is arranged in Russian. In some prearranged cases you can also use English or German but generally, the knowledge of foreign languages is insufficient.

Currency

The Belarusian currency is called "rubel" (BYR). Currently there are notes ranging from 1 to 50,000 rubles. No coins are used in Belarus for circulation. The rate of exchange is about 2850 for 1USD in 2009.

Working and business hours

Lunch is usually for an hour and anytime between noon and 2pm. Authorities and offices are generally open 9am to 6pm during the work week, with banks closing at 5pm. It is recomended to arrange meeting in advance.

Shops are open from about 9am or 10am to about 9pm Monday to Saturday, closing on Sunday around 6pm (if they?re open at all that day). Restaurants and bars usually open around 10am and, with unfortunately few exceptions, close between 10pm and midnight.. Exchange offices are usually in the shops.

Registration of foreign visitors in BY

The foreigner can enter the Republic of Belarus and leave the Republic of Belarus with the valid passport or other document replacing it. All Western visitors need a visa, and arranging one before you arrive is essential. The visa-free order of entrance for the owners of diplomatic and service passports is valid.

If you are staying in the country for more than 72 hours, you must have your visa officially registered. Hotels do this automatically, sometimes for a small fee. They?ll give you small pieces of paper with stamps on them, which you keep to show to customs agents upon departure if asked.

A payment for entering Belarus and for transit through its territory is required for all vehicles (except for non-transit passenger cars entering Belarus). The fee ranges from US$ 20 to $155. Besides you will be required to fill-in the details of your vehicle into the customs declaration and purchase a motor-car insurance.International driving license is required

Import and export of a foreign currency

Import of foreign currency to the Republic of Belarus is not limited, however, if you import the sum exceeding USD 3000.00, it is necessary to fill in the declaration (there are forms in English). The specified declaration at departure will serve as the document for unobstructed export of the left sum. At export of currency up to USD 3000.00 it is not necessary to fill in the declaration, at export of the sum over USD 3000.00 the declaration should be filled.

The order of import - export of a foreign currency is stated in the Table. Besides, we should pay attention, that import and export of the Republic of Belarus roubles in the sum exceeding 500 basoc values is forbidden.

In case if available money resources, including foreign currency, are being imported with the purpose of use as foreign grant, they are subject to written declaring irrespective of the sum of import.

Import of money to the Republic of Belarus

 Export of money from the Republic of Belarus

* ... the law assumes ? the oral declaration ?. Usually in such cases the representative of customs asks which sum of money do you carry with yourselves. The answer to this question also refers to as " the oral declaration ?.

** ... It is necessaryfor you to declare the available sum of money by filling in the corresponding fields of the customs declaration.

*** ... the sanction is required only for export of money from the Republic of Belarus. The sanction can be received in the Belarusian or Russian banks where you buy or draw out currency. The declaration filled with you at entrance to the Republic of Belarus or the Russian Federation and registered by the customs authorities where the imported sum is specified, is the sanction for export of the same sum of money. We recommend to adhere to this rule.

Business customs in BY

It is necessary to keep the time of an appointment, they usually accept 5 minuts without apologize.

It is useful to get your partner business card in Russian language or in English if you introduce yourself. If you title your business partner use his/her name and father´s name.

Russian language is widely used for the first contact. In some prearranged cases you can also use English or German..

It is recommended to verify data about partner and his company.

The best way how to initiate business connections is informal meeting usually during the lunch or dinner. There are regular pledges, the guests are expected to drink a partner, his wife and family, business cooperation. The drink is at someone´s command, it is local vodka.

It isn´t unusual that business partner is invited to the cottage or Belarusian sauna. There are very often placed the biggest contracts. Giving presents for the guest such as vodka, booklet or local souvenir is very often that is why to bring several gifts too.

To show hospitality, a host traditionally presents an offering of bread and salt when greeting a guest or visitor. Popular drinks in Belarus include Russian wheat vodka and kvass, a soft drink made from malted brown bread or rye flour.

Health care and health insurance

It is necessary to také out appropriate travel insurance to cover hospital treatmemt, medical evacuation and any activities done in Belorussia. This insurance must be valid for Belorussia.

Important notice

Be careful about the day you have to leave Belorussia, the queues or the waiting period at the custom might be long and when your residence permit (visa) expires your car can be confiscated.

Banking

Six commercial banks, four formerly state-owned specialized banks Agroprombank (agricultura sector), Promstroibank (industrial sector), Vneshekonombank (foreign trade), and Belarusbank (savings bank) and two universal banks (Priorbank and Belbusinessbank) dominated the banking system. These former state-owned specialized banks accounts for over 80 percent of the banking system outstanding loans, over 70 percent of domestic currency deposits, and all the NBB's refinancing credit. The Central Bank of Belarus fulfills mostly technical functions as the President and government is permanently interfering into operation of the whole banking sector by decrees and resolutions. There are 8 foeign bank branches.

Economy

Most of the Belarusian economy remains state-controlled, as in Soviet times. Thus, 51.2% of Belarusians are employed by state-controlled companies, 47.4% are employed by private Belarusian companies (of which 5.7% are partially foreign-owned), and 1.4% are employed by foreign companies. The country relies on imports such as oil from Russia. Important agricultural products include potatoes and cattle byproducts, including meat. As of 1994, the biggest exports from Belarus were heavy machinery (especially tractors), agricultural products, and energy products.

Historically important branches of industry include textiles and wood processing. As of the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union, Belarus was one of the world's most industrially developed states by percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) as well as the richest CIS state. Economically, Belarus involved itself in the CIS, Eurasian Economic Community, and Union with Russia. During the 1990s, however, industrial production plunged because of decreases in imported inputs, in investment, and in demand for exports from traditional trading partners. It took until 1996 for the gross domestic product to rise; this coincided with the government putting more emphasis on using the GDP for social welfare and state subsidies.The GDP for 2006 was US$83.1 billion in purchasing power parity (PPP) dollars (estimate), or about $8,100 per capita.

Belarus's largest trading partner is Russia, accounting for nearly half of total trade in 2006. As of 2006, the European Union is Belarus's next largest trading partner, with nearly a third of foreign trade. Belarusian exports to the EU consist mainly of agricultural and textile products, while the EU exports are primarily machinery.

Decree No. 42 of 28 January 2008

On Introducing Amendments and Additions to Some Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus Relating to the Activity of Free Economic Zones

By his Decree No. 42, the President of the Republic of Belarus has introduced amendments and additions to some decrees dealing with the activity of free economic zones.

The Decree secures for FEZ residents the right to tax relief and guarantees to include their products to the annual list of import-substituting goods produced by FEZ residents and imported to the domestic market in case these goods are included on that list during the first year of their production. Besides, FEZ residents will enjoy privileged renting conditions (no bigger than two per cent of the cadastral value, but no less than the rates of the land tax) with respect to the land plots provided to them for pursuing investment projects and privileged taxation schemes.

The Decree comes into force on 1 April 2008.

Paying Taxes in Belarus

The table below addresses the taxes and mandatory contributions that a medium-size company must pay or withhold in a given year in Belarus, as well as measures of administrative burden in paying taxes.

Notes

Name of taxes have been standardized. For instance income tax, profit tax, tax on company's income are all named corporate income tax in this table.
The hours for VAT include all the VAT and sales taxes applicable.
The hours for Social Security include all the hours for labor taxes and mandatory contributions in general.

Wages

The average wages in Belarus is about 400 USD per a month.

Marketing services

Nowadays, when economic situation changes impetuously, a greater importance for a company to develop successfully belongs to a continuous monitoring of external environment and elaboration of an efficient marketing policy.

Information Republican Unitary Enterprise ?National Center for Marketing and Price Study? of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus is one of the leading advisory companies of the country rendering comprehensive informative and marketing support and assistance for the development of Belarus? enterprises.

We have the opportunities to render marketing services on following basic trends:

• study of market situation with provision of data on the market capacity, price level, basic development trends;
• study of products/services consumer market with provision of data on consumption, consumer preferences, consumers? focus groups, and also motives of consumer behaviour (using questionnaire survey);
• competitive analysis (determination of the list of major industrial manufacturer and suppliers of similar products on discovered country?s market, description of technical features and wholesale/retail prices level analysis);
• search for enterprises manufacturing and supplying products and services on the territory of the Republic of Belarus and foreign states, description of their product range and prices;
• search for business partners and clients, providing data on business solvency of partners (provision of address and other contact information, companies? activity description, list of products manufactured, and also a number of financial indicators providing a picture of this or that company?s opportunities);
• Retail Audit ? provision of data on product range presented in retail trade and its price level, TOP-5 (TOP-10) of the leading brands,
• analysis of statistical data on the world trade, foreign trade of the Republic of Belarus and other states presented as a study of imports/exports in terms of value and in physical terms;
• assessment of the activity of sales and consumer services using the technique of ?Mystery Shopping? - anonymous quality evaluation of a company?s customer service, personnel operation, monitoring of merchandising standards compliance etc;
• stesting of a brand with determination of its recognizability and attitude towards the brand, awareness of products, associations with the brand (focus groups, depth interview, polls);
• international marketing - arrangements to study trade-sales activity of an enterprise;
• development of the recommendation to encourage sales on the Belarusian and foreign markets, improve competitiveness of a client?s products, and master production programme, merchandising and marketing policy.

National Center for Marketing and Price Study is ready to consider any of Your suggestions concerning marketing surveys trends.

 In order to perform marketing surveys we have:

• a chain of affiliates in all main centers of business activity in the Republic of Belarus;
• informational and resource potential to explore both, foreign and domestic markets;
• business contacts with Belarusian and foreign state managerial establishments and specialized companies.