Belarus is interested in attracting foreign capital into its banking industry, Belarusian Economy Minister Nikolai Zaichenko said at a press conference dedicated to the opening of the third Belarusian-Latvian finance and investment forum on October 9. “We are working on bringing foreign capital and increasing the banking role in the development of the national economy,” he said. The official remarked, Belarus places much emphasis on cooperation of the banking communities of Belarus and Latvia. In his opinion, the two countries have a lot of opportunities for that. Western capital is already present in Belarus, stressed Nikolai Zaichenko. Since 2005 Belarus has been attracting over $200 million in investments annually thanks to cooperation with Austrian bank Raiffeisen. In June 2007 Russian Vnesheconombank bought the controlling interest in Belarusian Belvnesheconombank while in April Russian VTB Bank bought the controlling interest in Slavneftebank. In turn, Kaspars Gerhards, Secretary of State of the Latvian Economy Ministry, remarked that Latvia’s banking system is developing fast. “After the country’s entry to the European Union Latvian banks attracted capital of the largest Scandinavian and German banks,” he said. “Latvian banks consider Belarus to be a prospective partner. For example, Parex Banka has been present on the Belarusian market for long,” added Kaspars Gerhards.