Moscow/Minsk, October 7, 2008 – Baker & McKenzie, the global law firm, advised on developing a legal framework for issuing Belorussian depository receipts. In May 2008 officials from the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus, the Securities Department of the Belorussian Finance Ministry, and several Belorussian commercial banks held meetings with advisors from Baker & McKenzie, Deutsche Bank, UniСreditBank and the investment company Uniter to discuss the possibility of Belorussian banks entering Western capital markets through the issue of depository receipts. The negotiating parties have agreed upon drafting proposals to amend the existing legislation of the Republic of Belarus in order to implement an issue of depository receipts.

The current Belorussian legislation contains several provisions greatly impeding the implementation of IPOs and issues of depository receipts in respect of Belorussian shares, and may also have a negative effect on their liquidity.

As a follow-up to the negotiations, Baker & McKenzie and its partners in this project have conducted a careful review of Belorussian legislation on securities issues and circulation, including the securities of commercial banks, regulation of joint stock companies and taxation. As a result, a number of recommendations on how to amend Belorussian laws have been presented to the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus and the Belorussian Securities Department of the Finance Ministry.

Given that the Republic of Belarus has rather developed laws on banking regulation, corporate relationships and securities, the recommendations have been prepared with a view to making amendments to the existing regulatory acts.

The goal of the proposed amendments is to enable issues of depository receipts not only by banks but also by other Belorussian companies considering the possibility of their transformation into public companies. In addition to attracting direct investment to Belorussian banks and companies, depository receipts issues could raise the market value of shares held by the Republic of Belarus, and attract substantial funds to the Belorussian budget in the long run.

We are also hopeful that the proposals prepared by Baker & McKenzie, Deutsche Bank, UniСreditBank and the investment company Uniter would help the government authorities of the Republic of Belarus in their efforts to improve Belorussian legislation.