By the end of the year the trade between Belarus and the European Union may reach $25 billion, Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Yevdochenko said during the closing ceremony of the Belarusian Finance and Investment Forum in Minsk on October 22. He noted the Belarusian government is doing its best to optimise the business operation environment in Belarus. The global business community feels positive about the measures already taken to improve the investment climate and decrease the tax burden. Over the last 18 months Belarus has attracted over ?4 billion in European investments. The Belarusian Finance and Investment Forum is supposed to encourage the inflow of foreign capital and prepare Belarusian companies for working on international stock markets. The forum is meant for executives of management bodies, banks, insurance organisations, accounting and law companies, Belarusian companies. Representatives of Deloitte Belarus, Deutsche Bank, London law company Freshfields Derringer, the London Stock Exchange, Financial Dynamics Business Communications company (London) and other organisations made their report during the forum. The Belarusian Finance and Investment Forum was organised by the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Belarus-EU Business Cooperation Council. The latter is an independent business organisation headquartered in Brussels. It is aimed at promoting trade relations with Belarus. The forum was a continuation of the business meeting, which began during the roundtable session “Attraction of investments from international financial markets” in Minsk on June 17, 2008.

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