Meetings for entrepreneurs from Belarus

This year, the Polish-Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for the second time organized a series of meetings for Polish entrepreneurs from Belarus and Belarusian Poles working in local communities. Within the framework of the training program five groups of Polish entrepreneurs and activists of local self-governments take a series of meetings in the Polish business environment institutions. This year, five visits have been organized, including Polish diaspora from: Brest, Hrodna, Homel, Minsk and Vitebsk districts.

Training takes placeas a part of implementation of the Program named in honor of Ignacy Domeyko and called "Support for Polish diaspora entrepreneurs in Belarus through training and exchange of experience". Implementation of this project is co-funded by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MSZ) within the objective called "Cooperation with the Polish diaspora and Poles abroad in 2015." The main objective of the project is to assist in the development of entrepreneurship among Belarusian Poles.

Within the framework ofthe training, small groups of six participants involving two assistants from the Polish-Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry are visiting i.a. Polish Agency for Enterprise Development (PARP), Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK), the Warsaw Stock Exchange and other Polish institutions, mostly without their counterparts in Belarus or existing there in a different form.

One of the important destinations for groups from Belarus always is the Polish Committee for Standardization (PKN). In PKN Polish entrepreneurs from Belarus are being familiarized with the principles of Polish and European standardization system and the rules of participation in standardization. They learn how to participate in the standardization process, as well as how standards are created in Polish technical bodies. They also have the opportunity to learn the methods of use for the electronic databases of Polish and European standards and are encouraged to participate in standardization works run under the aegis of PKN.

A small number of groups makes it easier to establish good contact between the participants and the experts who are giving presentations. Participants, during trainings in Poland receive unique competence in the field of business, so they have a chance to boost innovation and competitiveness of their own companies in their country.

Each training cycle ends with a summary conference, during which participants have the opportunity to assess the course and usefulness of trainings. Strong interest in participating in this program from the Belarusian Poles indicates that the cycle of training under the Ignacy Domeyko program will be continued in the coming years.