OREANDA-NEWS. September 13, 2010. Belarus has opened a tender to name suppliers of alcoholic beverages in 2011, the interdepartmental commission responsible for arranging the tender said in a statement.

Bids are accepted until October 27.

The date and venue of the tender will be identified after all bids have been made.

Twenty-three companies are allowed to supply alcohol-containing products [wine materials, brandy concentrates, cognac spirits, ethyl alcohol, mixtures and other spirit-containing substances] in 2010, up from 28 in the second half of 2009.

President Alexander Lukashenko by decree #3 abolished import quotas on alcohol, non-food alcohol-containing substances, and non-food ethyl alcohol.

To protect the economic interests of the country and preserve control over import flows, all imports of alcohol and alcohol-containing products will be authorized by a special commission that will select importers by tender.