Overview of our activities for the year March 2016 - April 2017

(All figures and data as of 1/04/2017)

 

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General comments

 

• The level of British business presence in Belarus is limited due to lack of general interest and difference in commercial cultures (German type rather then Anglo-Saxon);

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• Large British businesses, which usually anchoring British promotion locally and support Chamber-like organisations (BP, BG, BA, Jaguar Land Rover, British-American Tobacco, big 4 auditors, UK Banks, etc.) have their presence in Belarus as sub-branches of Russian or Ukrainian offices, so do not have relevant budgets and general guidelines for cooperation;

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• At the FCO officers meeting in Paris Belarus draw significant interest from Mr. Boris Johnson as he became aware that formally UK is the second largest investor in Belarus after Russia.

Events

 

Over the period of several years our monthly Networking Club in both Minsk and London became an established platform for meetings and social even itself. Based on the format of Insurer’s Russian Club in the City the event continue to draw significant interest, attendance and appreciation in both cities. Minsk meetings are well supported by the Embassy staff and very often enjoy the HM Ambassador attendance using this as an opportunity for informal liaison with interested parties.

 

Here are various photos and video footage from prime Belarus TV channel.

 

At the mean time the London event mange to gather all sorts if City professionals related to the region as well as some people traveling specifically from the country to attend. As part of overall cooperation with Emerging Europe (it will be described below) now the London event developed into a pan-regional platform and enjoys an on-going growth in many aspects.

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• The Chamber was proud to be amongst one of the supporters’ and stakeholders of “Broadening the Horizons” Forum established in Minsk in late 2016 with our representative amongst speakers. The event managed to gather 450+ participants from all over the world and set up an annual event now. Here is some video on that.

 

• As part of Outlook on Belarus 2016 project with Emerging Europe the Chamber was very proud to play significant role in organisation and support for a joint event at EBRD HQ in London, which appear to be probably the largest UK event focused on British-Belarus Trade cooperation so far. Some info on the event available here and wider project description is in the next chapter.

 

• Together with British Embassy and USAID, BBCC is always happy to support Global Entrepreneurship Week with our representative as a speaker.

 

• As part of close cooperation with the British Embassy in Minsk the Chamber always proud to be helpful in all endeavours from QBP to Burns Night, annual Book Fair or British Film Festivals. As an example here is a TV program with joint participation of Embassy and Chamber representatives on the QBP occasion.

 

• We were extremely proud to support the first ever Royal Family member, HRH Prince Michael of Kent to Belarus in October 2016. Obviously that was a great booster to British-Belarus relationship and twice pleasant as His Highness is well known as a Patron of Russo-British Chamber of Commerce. Here are some pictures of BBCC management meeting the Prince.

 

• In general we are always looking for any opportunity to promote Anglo-Saxon culture in all aspects of life whereby it comes to business opportunities or general things like British food presentation. An example of recent event that was an opening one for British week in Belarus in 2017 (it is 25 years of diplomatic relationships) can be found here.

 

• Also we were very happy to partner with our member - Global Child Club for the Britain’s week for children with invitation of prominent British educational professional.

 

 

Partner engagement and trade development

 

The Chamber is very proud to play some key role in a remarkable project Outlook on Belarus 2016 brought in by Emerging Europe with support of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in 2016. 

 

Significance of it is that was the first-ever comprehensive assessment of Belarus’ investment opportunities for British and International businesses made by professional London team supported by international organisations as IMF, World Bank and EBRD.

 

As a result of our heavy engagement from the very beginning around of stakeholders in the project were attracted or came through the Chamber, including international institutions, diplomats and other foreign chambers represented in Belarus.

 

The project which was running through May-December 2016 was followed up by well attended conference in London at EBRD’s HQ and print of well balanced comprehensive magazine still being the only ever independent source of investment and economic information made by UK professionals for potential global investors base. To have a look on printed version please click here.

 

The Chamber and COBCOE were very well positioned and represented in all aspects of the project so boosted its strategic roles in British-Belarus and British-European Trade relationships enormously.

 

In support here are Belarus TV program with BBCC and Emerging Europe, Post event news report with an interview of Chamber’s Senior Advisor and Chamber President’s interview taken at the EBRD London event.

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Digital Communication

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Website:

 

Our website appear to be a trusted source of information for business opportunities and UK-Belarus trade relationships. This is widely used by entire Anglo-Saxon world which is determined not only by the fact of general business opportunities but also because in Belarus it is extremely difficult to find some really neutral objective information on business with heavy state propaganda interference.

 

So fare for calendar year Jan 2016 – Jan 2017 our website had:

 

• 3,801 unique visitors;

 

• 9,523 page views;

 

• Visits from 85 countries in the world with top 5 being: Russia, Belarus, UK, US and Germany;

 

• Following map illustrates our visitors blend:

 

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Facebook:

 

Our Facebook page is one of the most active of a kind (foreign chambers) in Belarus and widely used for most recent updates and information on British-Belarus business promotions and comments. Also we have a system of cross-referencing with the same resource for British Embassy Minsk, which make the page a useful instrument for anyone interested in British-Belarus relationship.

 

 

Twitter:

 

Our account has 439 followers from all over the world. To give some comparison:

 

• National Investments Promotion Agency – 267

• British Embassy Minsk – 959

• Belarus National Chamber of Commerce – 261

Following map illustrates the geographical scope of the audience (in %%):

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LinkedIn

 

BBCC page have 276 followers and quite well read throughout interested parties. To compare, National Investments Promotion Agency – 431, British Embassy Minsk – 250,

 

On the overall comment we would like to point that over several years our digital communication channels became a trusted source of information for anybody interested in British-Belarus trade relationships and appear to be an effective instrument for both active and passive promotion of our activities.

 

 

CSR

 

During the course of 2016-2017 year the Chamber was involved in several Corporate & Social Responsibility related initiatives and projects. To name a few:

 

• Support of various charity events organised by SOS-villages Belarus and UNDP;

• Support of photo exhibition related to single mothers rising up children;

• Support in open up and start of activities for Eurasian Creative Guild from London in order to develop talent promotion for Belarusian students;

 

 

Vision, Mission and Goals

 

We endeavour to continue close cooperation with all interested parties in Minsk and London with increasing promotion of trade and investment opportunities. Also once Belarus government will require help in transition actions in order to comply with IMF and EBRD requirements the Chamber shall be happy to provide relevant access to all sorts of expertise available in the City of London;

 

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