Press Releases

In August 2009, Belarus introduced new incentives to help foreign investors realize their projects more smoothly and promptly. In particular, if you wish to invest in Belarus, your activities will now be supported though a new and more robust mechanism – an investment agreement setting out considerable preferences that will assist you in the course of a project implementation.

Through an investment agreement, you can:

- Build premises, as set by an investment project, in parallel with the preparation of construction documents = you do not need to wait until all papers are processed in all stages of construction as you may start building premises straight away.

- Lease a land lot needed for construction without an auction. During the whole period of your investment project, the lease payment shall not exceed the price defined of the moment of signing the investment agreement.

Through an investment agreement, you are free from:

- Land lease agreement fee.

- Compensation related to agricultural or forestry losses stemmed from your investment activities.

- Custom dues and VAT if you bring with you from outside Belarus equipment or spare parts needed to implement your investment project.

- Employment authorization fee for foreign nationals that you hire to carry out your investment project and temporary residence authorization fee for these nationals.

The investment agreement will also clearly set out its duration terms and amount of money to be invested, rights and responsibilities of both parties – you and Belarus, including requirements on damage compensation to an investor over the result of illegal actions or inaction of Belarus state bodies or executive committees.

The investment agreement is subject to legal expertise and state registration.

In a number of cases, an investment project does not need a business plan and a comprehensive state expertise.

Additionally, your investment activities might be guided with the help of expert advice and support of an investment agent, either a person or a company, which is a new legally introduced institutional mechanism of conducting investment activities in Belarus. In particular, you may get professional assistance of an investment agent in consultancy, marketing and paper work.

All these measures were introduced via Presidential Decree ¹10 and Presidential Ordinance ¹ 413 adopted on 6 August 2009.