In a rapidly changing world of business opportunities, it is hard to imagine how a geographically well placed country like Belarus could not respond to such opportunities. The President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko immediately responded to those opportunities by molding diplomatic and economic ties with various countries like Russia, Norway, Columbia, Myanmar, Qatar, DPR Korea, and Tanzania etc. The economic statistics projects that the trade between Belarus and Russia will surpass $23 billion in 2007. The trade co-operation between the two countries have shown immense growth since 1995 which was at $5.2 billion and it has gone up to 19.9 billion in 2006.
In the recently concluded nine nation convention, Mr. Lukashenko stated that they are open to trade with friends and partners where all the participating nations will mutually be benefited. He further added that his primary focus would be on well being of his people and infra-structural needs of the country. Mr. Lukashenko claims that any outstanding bilateral issues with any country can be solved through constructive dialogues. Belarus is essaying to grab the global business opportunities by opening up its trade to any country that is willing to do business with them, thus shrugging off its autocratic label.
The Belarusian Bank for Small Business (BBSB) is seen has an initiative to involve even SMEs in the new economic activity the country is engaged in. BBSB will grant commercial loan ranging $100 to $200 thousand and micro credit will be made available up to $10,000. The bank enjoys the support of various banks from Germany, USA, Sweden and Holland. Consequently, the Belarusian economy is bound to bloom with the sustained effort of Mr. Lukashenko and the participating nations.