Perks laid out to attract investors to industrial park

Location: The park is 25 kilometers from Minsk, capital of Belarus. It is also close to Minsk's airport, railway facilities, the Berlin-Moscow transnational highway and access to the port of Klaipeda on the Baltic Sea. It is a link between the Commonwealth of Independent States, Russia and Europe, and provides the possibility of duty-free entry into the countries of the Customs Union and Common Free Market Zone with 170 million people.

Main tax benefits: The industrial park in Belarus offers to investors preferential taxation by formula 10+10: exemption from all corporate taxes for 10 years from the date of registration as a park resident and reduction of the effective tax rate by 50 percent for the next 10 years of activity in the park.

By formula 10+10, park residents are exempt from: income tax in respect to profits derived from the sale of goods manufactured in the park and property tax on buildings and facilities located in the park's zone.

Benefits for employees of companies operating in the industrial park: Rate of personal income tax is fixed at just 9 percent, 25 percent less than in Belarus.

Land use: An investor can lease land plots for use in the territory of the park for 99 years or own the land plots. Rent and sale of land plots is carried out by the management company.

Finding professional staff: Proximity to Minsk (population 1.9 million, including 450,000 students) and Smolevichy, a satellite town (population 15,000, 15 km from the park), contributes to the park by providing a pool of professional staff candidates.

Environment: Forest area, a pond and nature reserve with unique species of animals and birds, and high standards of groundwater, create a perfect ecological park complex. Construction of infrastructure in the park and its connection with investor facilities is provided by the management company.

Governmental support: Favorable and stable investment climate in the industrial park is set at the intergovernmental level and is ensured by special agreement between the government of Belarus and the government of China. In the agreement, boundaries of the industrial park are determined, and the industrial park status is confirmed as a separate territorial unit of Belarus and a special economic zone. Privileges and preferences in the park are specified.

Investment benchmark: Project compliance with the main areas of the park activities; creation and development of industries in the areas of electronics, fine chemistry, biotechnology, mechanical engineering and new materials; and declared amount of investment in the project implementation of at least $5 million (4.4 million euros).

(China Daily European Weekly 05/15/2015 page16)