OREANDA-NEWS. On August 07, 2008 Sergey Shaban, deputy chairman of the board of Belgazprombank commented on private business development in Belarus for a reputable European magazine, bne (Business New Europe), reported the press-centre of Belgazprombank.

The August issue of Business New Europe features an article by the magazine's Moscow reporter Graham Stack, Belarus' surprise opening gambit, that explores liberalization of economy and development of private business in Belarus.

The magazine asked for commentaries a number of Belarusian companies including Belgazprombank.

"Belgazprombank, the country's seventh largest bank in terms of assets and third largest in terms of share capital, owned jointly by Gazprom and Gazprombank, handles the Belarus gas trade accounting for the Russian giant, while lending to Belarusian small and medium-sized enterprises. As such, it enjoys a unique insight into both state and private sectors," the article says.

"For a whole decade, nothing was done to support the private sector, and no one expected these measures. Now we are hearing at a frequency of once a week cardinal measures decided on from the president or government. And all these measures are extremely positive for entrepreneurs and the private sector," said Mr. Shaban, deputy chairman of the board of Belgazprombank.

The article says: "According to Shaban, the move to privatization was sealed by the sale to Gazprom of Belarus gas pipelines operator Beltransgaz as part of the gas deal reached in 2007. "Beltransgaz had important symbolic value in terms of privatization. We reckoned if this deal goes ahead, privatization will continue. The Belarus government saw that nothing has changed, nothing terrible happened."

According to the author of the article, "Belarus simply has everything to gain from opening up, as Shaban argues: it is slap in the heart of Europe, with an educated workforce, social stability, and good production capacities." Besides, according to Shaban, "In Belarus, corruption, for example, is significantly lower than in Ukraine and Russia."

Bne profile:
Covering business, finance, economics and politics in the 30 countries of Central, Eastern and Southeast Europe, bne brings together the leading international banks, funds, multinationals, and international financial institutions in London, New York, Frankfurt and Vienna, with the local funds, banks and companies in the region.

Corporate clients include London Stock Exchange, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, World Bank, International Finance Corporation, Renaissance Capital, Raiffeisenbank, JP Morgan, Standard and Poor's, Deloitte and Touche, BP, Shell and others.

The magazine is distributed in thirty countries. Half the readers are in the international capitals of London (25%), New York, Vienna, Frankfurt, Stockholm. The other half are in the region with the main countries being Moscow (25%), Kyiv, Prague, Budapest, Warsaw and Istanbul.

The official website is www.businessneweurope.eu