More than 300 participants and friends of the Global Compact Network laid out an alley of maples in the Botanical Garden

June 6, MINSK . At the initiative of the Global Compact Network in Belarus, an alley of 24 spherical maples appeared in the Minsk Central Botanical Garden. The event, dedicated to World Environment Day, was attended by more than 300 employees of 24 companies of various forms of ownership and fields of activity, as well as about 90 of their children. From banks - BSB Bank, Priorbank, MTBank, BTA Bank , Technobank, Belinvestbank, Belarusbank , Sber Bank. it sphere - SoftTeco, ERPBEL. Audit, consulting, insurance and leasing services - GrandBusiness Expert, A-leasing, Belarusian National Reinsurance Organization. Manufacturing sector - Belarusian Metallurgical Plant, MedLen, Alutech, Minsk Soft Drinks Plant. Non-profit organizations were represented by: Association of European Business, Belarusian Society of Appraisers, SOS-Children's Villages. Plus - Antarion Group, Betera, Center for Environmental Engineering and Standardization, Remondis, Astotrading. Unusual volunteers, most of them top managers of organizations, also provided all possible assistance to the garden staff in landscaping the territory.
The Global Compact Network in Belarus is the largest initiative aimed at transforming the world in the interests of people and nature, in order to create a modern inclusive economy, which is based on the inseparability of economic, environmental and social factors and takes into account the exhaustibility of natural resources. The mission of the Network is to promote the importance of socially responsible business at the national level and inclusion in the global context to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
- It is important for the entire society and for business, public and private, large and small, that the country continues to develop in this direction. Mutual collaboration is required. For this purpose, business joins the Global Compact Network - this is an association of like-minded people. We are holding this event at the Central Botanical Garden on World Environment Day for the fourth time. And today we want to fill it with concrete actions,” said Sergei Dubkov, Chairman of the Board of BSB Bank CJSC and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Global Compact Network in Belarus.
On June 5, more than 300 employees of 24 companies and banks, some with children and parents, came to the Central Botanical Garden to support the initiative. For the first time, 15 prisoners of concentration camps and ghettos took part in the event. Among them, for example, is Galina Ignatievna Zmushko, who spent three years in the dungeons of a Finnish concentration camp, having gone there as a three-year-old child. Ilya Makarovich Korablikov, the author of a book about children of war, published in early 2024 with the memoirs of 43 former juvenile prisoners, also remembers the terrible times in the Vilnius ghetto :

- The Botanical Garden is the pearl of Minsk and the country, we will be happy to help and leave a memory of ourselves. Uniting different generations for such good deeds gives us confidence that the future of the country is in good hands.

The maple alley laid out on World Environment Day by participants and friends of the Global Compact Network in Belarus is decorated with commemorative plaques with the names of companies. The event was attended by top management and representatives of organizations that also provided financial support for the creation of the alley.
- We joined the initiative last year because we understand its importance. When doing business, sometimes we need to stop and think about the main thing - about the land on which to live for our children and grandchildren. The principles of the "green economy" must be in all our processes, permeating all activities. From this point of view, today is a very interesting event. Planting a tree in the Botanical Garden is almost a historical event! - Igor Likhogrud, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of BTA Bank CJSC, expressed his opinion.
15 employees of Priorbank OJSC arrived led by the Chairman of the Board Vadim Matyushkin. According to him, the bank is a permanent participant in the initiative and in its professional activities adheres to the principles of the “green economy”, reducing its carbon footprint, saving resources and supporting environmentally friendly business initiatives with lightweight loans.
The participants of the action did a lot in the nursery and rose garden, which already needed weeding. Part of the group was busy impregnating benches with a special protective compound, trimming bushes, and watering plants. There was enough for everyone to do. An animation program was organized for children opposite the greenhouse. This is not the first time

such an action has been carried out. Last year, participants in the action helped organize the Japanese Garden exposition.
Best international practices encourage companies to hold such corporate events on weekdays and thereby demonstrate their corporate commitment to contribute to the preservation of the environment.