OREANDA-NEWS. December 27, 2012. The Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has turned 60! This significant milestone was marked by an international forum of the business community, which was held in Minsk, at the Belarus National Library.

The forum was attended by Mikhail Myasnikovich, Prime Minister of Belarus, Mikhail Myatlikov, Chairman of the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Valery Mitskevich, Deputy Chief of Staff of Belarus’ President, Sergei Katyrin, Chairman of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Sergei Skripchenko, Chairman of Ukraine’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Vitaly Gudin, Director of the Department of Tariff and Non-Tariff Regulation of the Eurasian Economic Commission, Vladimir Salamatov, General Director of the World Trade Center (Moscow), and Oleg Sazanov, Director of the International and Regional Development Department.

During the ceremonial session, presentations also were made by international dignitaries, including Milos Bugarin, President of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, Rajesh Kumar, a member of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Daisuke Saito, Representative of the Japanese Association for Trade with Russia and New Independent States (ROTOBO), Dirk Vantyghem, Director, International Affairs, Eurochambres, and James Wilson, Director of the Belarus EU Business Council. The conference total attendance exceeded 300 people.

The principal discussion topics included development of fruitful cooperation between national chambers of commerce and industry, businesses, exhibition centers and other institutions in the present-day economic environment; enlargement of the interface framework by creating regional integration associations that could establish their foothold in international trade.

Mr. Salamatov, co-host of the forum’s section entitled “Cooperation within the framework of regional integration associations: From regional integrations to global trade, gave presentation entitled “Development of international trade on the basis of WTO principles in view of integration changes in the Eurasian space.” (See Mr. Salamatov’s presentation here.)

After the presentations, the conference attendees had a lively discussion during which they exchanged opinions on the matters of concern, held multiple business meetings and talks.