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The Bank signed loan agreements with a number of foreign and domestic companies in the private sector. The Bank allocated €50mn to the manufacturer of particleboard and furniture company IOOO VMG Industry, €20mn to the furniture manufacturer IOOO Mebelain, €20mn to OOO Evrotorg.
In 2018, the EBRD bought a stake in the agricultural group Servolux and also issued a €5mn loan to the pharmaceutical company Apteka Group.
In the banking sector, the EBRD continued cooperation with Belinvestbank having alloted it a €50mn loan.
Work begun to finance new projects in Belarusian ruble.
The EBRD has supported the development of renewable energy in the country, having financed the construction and commissioning of four biogas CHPs in Grodno Oblast and Brest Oblast. And it has launched a Green City action plan for Minsk to identify the activities and areas of investments to address the priority environmental problems.
The Belarusian government and the EBRD signed a memorandum of understanding regarding the pre-privatization support for OAO Krinitsa in 2018-2020.
Since the EBRD began working in Belarus in 1992, the bank has invested over €2.4bn in 115 projects in various branches of the national economy.
2.1 Minsk asks EU to drop sanctions
Belarus has urged the European Union (EU) to lift all sanctions against Minsk, according to the nation's Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei.
"The EU will revisit the remaining sanctions in February of this year," Makei told journalists on January 14. "Hopefully, a reasonable approach will triumph and that sooner or later this remnant of the past will be removed from our agenda."
In February 2018, the Council of the EU extended for one year a limited set of remaining sanctions against Belarus, which include an arms embargo and an asset freeze and a travel ban against four former law enforcement officials.
The measures against the individuals were prolonged in connection with the unresolved disappearances of two opposition politicians, one businessman and one journalist, in 1999 and in 2000. In 2016, the Council introduced an exemption to the restrictions to allow the export of biathlon equipment to Belarus.
February 2015, the EU lifted most of its sanctions against Belarusian authorities following a peaceful presidential election in October 2015. At the same time, the US last June prolonged by one year its sanction regime against officials deemed to undermine the country's democratic processes, including President Alexander Lukashenko.
"No one denies that each country has problems, but this does not mean they should be resolved by means of blackmail or pressure," Makei added. "Society needs to be ready for certain measures a country needs to take to become a genuine democracy."
10 BELARUS Country Report February 2019 www.intellinews.com