The CIS region, which includes the countries of the former Soviet Union, is a strategic region with great potential for JGL, in which the company has been present since 1998 and has achieved high growth rates. JGL is present with its own operations in Russia, where it employs 219 workers, in Ukraine, with 51 workers, and in Kazakhstan, with 44 workers in registration, marketing, promotion and logistics processes. On other CIS markets, such as Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Moldova, JGL operates through the B2B business model with exclusive distributors, which ensures its presence with the company's key brands. In spite of the crisis the company currently faces and substantial currency risks, by analysing the specificities of individual markets in the Region, the Belarus market was singled out as a market of great potential, which resulted in a decision to start our own operations and open a representative office in the capital of the Republic of Belarus, Minsk. Back in 2011, JGL started the activities on the Belarus market through a partner which in the last three years provided support in registration, distribution and promotion of the company's products, making this step a logical continuation of activities we started three years ago.
There are around ten million people living in Belarus, and it is estimated that its pharmaceutical market is worth around a billion USD, so it is not surprising that JGL chose the Belarus market for its further market expansion in the CIS Region.
JGL currently has 15 own products registered in Belarus: almost the entire Aqua Maris line, Dramina, Feminal and Vagilak.The registration of Rinomaris, a product from the category of nasal decongestants and an innovative nasal spray in which the effects of a reliable drug, xylometazoline, are combined with seawater healing properties, is in progress, as well as of Rozamet cream, a drug for rosacea treatment. The range of products will be further expanded, according to the intended plan and dynamics, with the aim of attracting customers on that market as well, primarily with high products quality. By the end of 2014 JGL Belarus will employ ten workers. The five year employment plan will focus on the employment of expert associates in promotion. Next year we plan to employ eight new people, and in 2019 the representative office should employ around 27 people.
JGL directly cooperates with four leading wholesale drug stores in Belarus, which ensures the presence of JGL products in half of the pharmacies on the entire Belarus territory.
The results for the first three quarters of 2014 are encouraging, JGL has a 10% share on the Belarus market in the segment of physiological and seawater solutions, regardless of the strong and developed competition. JGL's plan of export to Belarus for 2014 is worth almost one million EUR, and in the following year JGL plans to increase its sales and generate around 1.5 million EUR. The pharmaceutical company from Rijeka intends to assume the leading position in the nasal saline segment and travel sickness segment with Dramina brand in Belarus.