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Belarus in focus

DUBAI — The UAE and Belarus have huge potential to boost investment and bilateral relations, according to top government officials of both countries.

Hisham Abdullah Al Shirawi, second vice-chairman of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, urged businesses from Dubai to exploit investment opportunities offered by Belarus, which he said is one of the fastest emerging markets of the world, while also calling on Belarusian entites to expand their business activities in the region from Dubai.

Al Shirawi was speaking at the Dubai Chamber’s “Country Focus Briefing: The Republic of Belarus 2013”, held in cooperation with the Belarusian Embassy at the Chamber’s headquarters on Wednesday. It was organised as part of the Dubai Chamber’s initiative of exploring investment opportunities in promising markets for its members while enhancing the competitiveness of Dubai businesses in overseas business arenas.

The briefing was attended by Anton Koudasov, Deputy Minister of the Belarus Ministry of Economy; Vyacheslav Reut, First vice-chairman of the Belarus Chamber of Commerce and Industry; and a large number of business delegates from Dubai and Belarus.

Al Shirawi said that Belarus has a clear strategic vision to be a transit hub between the Customs Union, comprising itself, Kazakhstan Russia, and the rest of Europe. This can offer traders in Dubai opportunities to reach out to new markets and vice-versa as traders in Belarus and surrounding countries can use Dubai as a gateway to Middle Eastern, African and Asian markets.

“Our city’s unique land, sea, air network offers traders some of the finest transport and logistics options. And our infrastructure and healthy business climate facilitates trade and investment flows,” Al Shirawi said.

Koudasov stressed that Belarus and the UAE have a lot in common, like both being the gateways to their particular regions, having an open economy and business-friendly policies that can be used to their advantage in enhancing bilateral ties between the two nations.

— abdulbasit@khaleejtimes.com