Probably, the name of Turkcell company is known to the thousands of Belarusian citizens, who took a rest in this southern country, having preliminary ordered a roaming for their mobile phones. Specialists would have added, that the revenue of the company last year amounted to 6,3 billion of US Dollars, a client base is more than 35 million people, and investment activity was carried out, in particular, in Ukraine. Alexander Lukashenko announced, that cooperation with this telecommunication giant is of great interest for Belarus.Alexander Lukashenko also noted, that all big investment projects of Belarus, especially if they are connected with converting enterprises into joint-stock companies, need approval of the country’s administration. “We behave very composedly and accurately to foreign investments,” — he said, referring to guests from Istanbul, and explained the reason in detail. Firstly, according to him, “there are different investors and there are such investors, form which you should stay away.” Secondly, “country and economy shall attract as mush investments, as it can digest.” In opinion of Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus today has enough investment offers. Thirdly, “we attract investments in those sectors, which we consider necessary.” And the fourth thing, as the President noted, — this is an obligatory social responsibility of all investments of foreign companies, coming to the Belarusian market. “I would like you to come here not only for earning money, but to help the state solving social problems, because Belarusian citizens will help to earn money for you”, — the President described a circle of conditions, which are presented before potential investors.
As practice shows, foreign businessmen are intelligent to such requirements. Turkcell positions itself as a socially responsible company, and its directors took heed to mention about this.
The general director of Telekom Austria Group Boris Nemshich, another foreign player at the market of cellular communication of Belarus, has expressed his opinion even more definitely. In the end of last year the company, headed by him, acquired a controlling block of shares of the mobile operator Velcom. Having appeared on the pages of a leading western business paper — a newspaper Financial Times on the occasion of policy of the European Union in the sphere of telecommunications, he declared: “We were accepted in Belarus much better, than in Brussels. This is not a political announcement, and a business affirmation...”
Talking about perspectives of innovation cooperation with Turkish companies, Alexander Lukashenko noted: “We have never had problems with Turkey neither in economy, nor in policy. That is why we are interested in attraction of Turkish business to the Belarusian market in different sectors, including a construction one.”
