The investment forum in Vitebsk gathered participants from 14 countries
The scale of the forum and the number of participants are increasing every year. "This indicates interest in this forum and the Vitebsk region with its business development opportunities," Nikolai Sherstnev emphasized. He also noted that in order to make a decision and start a business in the Vitebsk land, it is necessary to understand how the region is developing, what it is proud of, what its industrial and human resources potential is. Heads of authorities, enterprises and organizations of Vitebsk region, in turn, are interested in the guests' experience in creating and organizing investment projects.
Annually, enterprises of the region export
products worth $2.5 billion to 87 countries. A third of the exported products
are knowledge-intensive and high-tech. The Vitebsk region is a comprehensively developing industrial region,
which hosts over 1.5 thousand enterprises and about 30 thousand business
structures representing over 40 countries. The share of innovative products in industrial production volumes
exceeds 30%.
Annually, organizations in the region attract about $1 billion in investment in fixed assets. Currently, with the participation of Russian capital, the production of capacitors at OJSC "Monolit" is being modernized. Over $22 million has been invested in expanding shoe production at "Belvest", and $16 million in building a new plant for the production of
a wide range of non-standard metal structures in the Polotsk district. Czech investors have created new production facilities for wood pellets in the Liozno district and peat substrates in the Sharkovshchina district. With the application of Danish technologies, the construction of a modern pig-breeding complex in the Tolochin district is being completed, with an investment volume of 32 million euros.Regarding the issue of effective economic development for the near future, the chairman of the regional executive committee emphasized that the region is primarily focused on the rational use of existing natural resources, production, and human resources. He sees promising projects for implementation in the region, including deep complex wood processing, peat extraction and processing for agricultural needs, cultivation and processing of flax and rapeseed, construction of large-scale meat and dairy complexes with a closed production cycle, and fish hatcheries. Currently, such projects are under negotiation with Lithuanian, Chinese, Ukrainian, Latvian, and Russian companies, and their development has begun with representatives from Egypt, Kuwait, and India.
The main events of the VII International Economic Forum took place at the Summer Amphitheater venue. Traditionally, the investment potential of all districts of the region is presented to the participants. The organizers are the Vitebsk Regional and City Executive Committees, the Regional Marketing Center, and the administration of the "Vitebsk" Free Economic Zone.