Belarus launched yesterday two Public Private Partnership projects worth Euro 350 million to a group of PPP investors in London. The projects, a motorway crossing from Poland through the south of Belarus and into the Russian Federation (M10) and a hydroelectric power plant, are expected to tender shortly and are being supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and IFC after they were identified and appraised by the UNECE PPP Business Advisory Board (BAB). 

At the launch of two pilot projects to international investors, Touraj Etezady, member of the BAB, congratulated the Government of Belarus on seeking to attract international investors and for offering these projects under English law, which gives international investors more confidence. Mr. Etezady and other BAB members have been involved in PPP discussions with the Government of Belarus for the past 18 months.

The projects were presented by senior policy makers from Belarus, including the First Deputy Minister of Finance, Maksim Yermalovich, who argued that these examples are designed to inspire other line ministries and local authorities to identify similar viable projects as PPPs.

The projects were launched at “PPP Days 2015”, the premier forum for public sector officials to interact with PPP experts and investors, hosted by the European Development Bank in London on 16-17 June 2015 and co-organized with the UNECE and the Multilateral Development Banks.