A conference "Belarusbank Opens Investment and Business Opportunities of the Republic of Belarus" took place in Tokyo (Japan) on 9 - 10 November 2010. It was held in Tokyo's well-known business facility "Okura" and became a forum for more than 100 Japanese and Belarusian businesses not only to meet each other, but also to learn about promising investment projects of Belarusian enterprises.
The event was attended by the well-know Japanese companies Mitsubishi Corporation, Marubeni Corporation, Sumitomo Corporation, Kawasaki, NEC Corporation, Daewoo International Japan Corporation, Yokogawa Electric Corporation, Сargil and others, Japan's largest financial institutions Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Daiwa, Mizuho, BNP Paribas, NOMURA, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd. and insurance agencies NEXI, JBIC. In addition, its participants included Nomura Research Institute, The Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), Tokyo‘s Chamber of Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Foreign Affaires of Japan.
Speeches at the conference were made by the following representatives of Japan's business: F. Kato, NEXI's Vice-President; M. Hattori, Deputy Chairperson of the Japanese Association for Trade with Russia and New Independent States (ROTOВO); T. Machii, JBIC's Head of Department for the Financing of Europe, Middle East and Africa, Sh. Ikuta, Marubeni Corporation's Chief Executive Officer.
The speakers stressed the importance of the Memorandum of Cooperation between NEXI and Belarusbank signed in December 2009 for developing trade between Belarus and Japan, as well as the good prerequisites for developing Belarusian and Japanese business relations in areas, such as petrochemical, light, food and machine building industry.
The Japanese partners expressed their interest in financing Japan's exports to Belarus, if approved by JBIC, without issuing a government guarantee to a Japanese bank. A. Gustin, Head of Beijing's division of BNP Paribas, voiced the bank's readiness to provide financing for Belarusian-Japanese contracts covered by NEXI and JBIC.During the event, Belarusbank described the milestones in Belarusian-Japanese relations and shared its experience of developing international cooperation. It also disclosed the investment potential of the Republic of Belarus and presented the projects of its clients. Belarusbank confirmed its interest in developing business relations between the Republic of Belarus and Japan and the bank's readiness to participate in the financing of projects between Belarusian and Japanese companies.
The international conference in Tokyo not only became a landmark event for the Belarusian-Japanese business relations, but also created the prerequisites for implementing the joint initiatives of Belarusian and Japanese organizations, companies and banks.