28 March 2024, Thursday, 15:46
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Belarusian businessmen flee to Lithuania

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The number of companies that moved from Belarus to Lithuania is growing year by year.

The unpredictable economic situation in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine makes businessmen look for a safe harbour for their money and ideas in Western countries. Lithuanian migration bodies issued almost 15,000 residence permits to citizens of these countries last year. In most cases, foreigners apply for a residence permit in Lithuania for work. Svetlana Kondratovich, the head of a consulting company, notes that Lithuania is an excellent launching platform to get access to Western markets, Belsat TV reports.

Lithuania was ranked 28th last year in the IMD World Competitiveness Ranking. Even the fact that a company owned by a foreign citizen must have a minimum capital of 14,000 euros and hire three Lithuanian citizens doesn't stop businessmen. Most companies moving to Lithuania focus on wholesale trade, manufacturing and logistics.

The Baltic States are also open for startup companies. Developer Raman Ulasau began to develop games in Minsk, but he and three partners founded JetCat Games studio in Vilnius. Focusing on popular tactical online games, the young people created Heliborne project, a helicopter strategy game.

JetCat Games was the first company to raise a €100,000 investment from Practica Capital Fund.

At least 10 computer studios have moved from Belarus, Russia and Ukraine to Lithuania for the last 18 months. Lithuania is happy to attract people with interesting ideas as it brings financial flows and healthy competition. At the same time, the absence of favourable conditions makes Belarus annually lose tens of businessmen who would be useful for the country's economy.

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