A solemn opening ceremony of the international forum of foreign graduates of the Belarusian (Soviet) universities will be held in the Palace of Republic on May 29. Attending the forum will be more than 300 former students from 110 countries who now work as diplomats, officials and businessmen. The International Graduate Student Association came up with the idea to hold such an event. The major goal of such business-meetings is to discuss and sign agreements between Belarusian organizations and foreign state-run and private companies and agencies in order to promote Belarusian export of goods and services and to attract foreign investment in the Belarusian economy. The students from more than 70 countries of the world are currently studying in Belarus. They come from Africa, South-Eastern Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the CIS member states. The students from the non-CIS countries account for 56% of all the foreign students, 44% of them come from the CIS member states and the Baltic countries. The majority of foreign students represent Russia, China, Iran, India, Syria and Lebanon. In 1961-2007, more than 53.5 thousand foreign students graduated from the Belarusian universities.