Enterprises of the Vitebsk region intend to produce innovative products worth more than $1.5 million in 2011.

INNOVATIONS TODAY - INVESTMENTS IN TOMORROW In the economic arena, victory will go to those who are ready for change, interested in renewal, and open to innovation – such are the laws of competition. It is no coincidence that in his Address to the Belarusian people and the National Assembly, the President of the country, Alexander Lukashenko, emphasized that for Belarus to become a state with a highly developed economy, comfortable, safe, and prosperous, it is necessary to focus on innovation, investment, and initiative. The creation of an innovative production structure is a top priority today. BELTA correspondent discusses how this is being addressed in the Vitebsk region with Oleg MATSKEVICH, Deputy Chairman of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee. - What are the most important tasks for Belarus's innovative development in the coming five years? They include creating new economic sectors and new production facilities, reconstructing and modernizing existing ones, and accelerating the innovative development of regions. What work is being done in this direction in the Vitebsk region? - The innovative activities of the Vitebsk region are aimed at developing innovative ideas and implementing them into technologically new products, services, and processes used in practical activities. The Vitebsk region possesses significant research and development potential that meets the needs of the socio-economic complex. This is confirmed by the results of the region's economic policy, which is focused on continuously increasing the production volumes of innovative products and expanding their range. For example, the volume of innovative products shipped by industrial enterprises in 2010 exceeded Br4 trillion. The growth rate compared to 2009 was 174%. The implementation of research and development results into production allowed for exceeding the targets set by the State Program for Innovative Development of the Republic of Belarus for 2007-2010 by the end of 2010: the share of new products was more than doubled, the share of innovative products in the total volume of shipped industrial products was more than 2.7 times higher, and the share of innovation-active enterprises in the total number of industrial enterprises was almost 1.5 times higher. Over the past two years, the share of innovation-active enterprises has been growing. In 2010, 46 industrial enterprises in the region were innovation-active. Their share increased from 8% in 2009 to 17% of the total number of industrial enterprises. Within the framework of the state program for innovative development of Belarus for 2007-2010 and the regional scientific and technical program "Innovative Development of the Vitebsk Region," 28 projects have been implemented. Among the most significant, we would like to highlight the creation of a production facility for cable products with cross-linked polyethylene insulation at the Energokomplekt Production Association, the construction of a cheese production workshop at the Verkhnedvinsk Butter and Cheese Factory, and the development and production of PC-21 panel computers at OAO KB Display. Four projects for the production of veterinary drugs implemented at UP Vitebsk Biofactory, as well as the development and production of tubular cooling units at ODO NPP Thermopass, deserve attention. In the coming years, more than 50 new types of equipment will be created in the region. This year alone, it is planned to produce innovative products worth over $1.5 million, including about $1 million of import-substituting products and over $500,000 of export-oriented products. - What priorities have been defined by the regional program for innovative development? Where will large structural innovative projects be implemented? - The regional program for innovative development is aimed at increasing the efficiency of all sectors of the region's economy, socio-economic development of the region, and achieving key forecast indicators. It can be conditionally divided into several blocks that define the vectors of innovative and investment development. These include the industrial and construction complexes, energy, resource and energy conservation, the agro-industrial complex, medicine and pharmacy, and the integrated development of regions, small and medium-sized urban settlements. The region's investment program includes 19 subprograms, among them: "Small Energy of Vitebsk Region," "Vitmash," "Vitebsk Flax," "Vitebsk Fur," "Vitebsk Spring," "Vitebsk Fish," "Vitneftekhim," "Vittorg," "Vitstroy," "Children of Vitebsk Region," "Vitebsk Pharmacy," "Health," "Five Hundred," "VitDrev-Furniture," "Subprogram for the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Urban Settlements and Rural Settlements of the Vitebsk Region for 2011-2015," "Transport and Logistics Centers of Vitebsk Region," "Clean City," and "Vitagro." - Oleg Sergeevich, how will this program help solve the most important tasks for the region and the country as a whole in terms of increasing exports, including high-tech products, and import substitution? - Innovative and investment activities in the region are based on continuous efforts to reduce the import component in production, focusing primarily on domestic raw materials, materials, and components, as well as minimizing imports in general. The concentration of forces and resources is directed towards modernizing and re-equipping production facilities to adopt modern and the latest technological paradigms with high science-intensive and resource-saving technologies for export and import substitution. The potential for increasing the region's export capacity is determined by the sustainable development of trade and economic cooperation, primarily with the regions of Russia and the Baltic countries. Advantages for export development also include a developed infrastructure for gas and oil pipeline transport, the intersection of major European transport corridors within the region, and the potential for developing comprehensive services for passenger and freight traffic by road, rail, and air. In the export structure of enterprises under republican jurisdiction, oil products, polyethylene, glass fabrics, acrylic fibers, textile products, footwear, machine tools, and instruments form the basis of sales. High-tech products are predominantly exported abroad: ceramic capacitors, machine tools, computer equipment, and auto parts. In the export structure of communal enterprises, meat and dairy products prevail (over 90%): powdered milk, casein, butter, hard cheeses, meat, meat and dairy preserves, and whey. Enterprises without departmental subordination export oil products, cable products, clothing, plastic packaging, wood products, and medicines. The basis of high-tech exports from small and medium-sized businesses includes optical instruments, measuring equipment, water treatment and purification equipment, fiber optic cable, plastic and PVC products, veterinary drugs, and insecticides. Excluding oil products, by the end of 2010, the export of science-intensive products by all categories of organizations amounted to $59.9 million, with a growth rate of 134.4% compared to 2009. Their share in the total export volume of the region (excluding oil products) was 4.2%. The export of high-tech and science-intensive goods, works, and services in 2010 by organizations of communal property and without departmental subordination amounted to $41.4 million. Further development of the export potential of food industry enterprises and flax processing enterprises is of strategic importance. It is planned to develop exports from logging, woodworking, and peat extraction enterprises, as well as enterprises producing construction materials from local raw materials. The region's export policy for 2011-2015 envisages the development of production cooperation, the creation of joint ventures, the exchange of technologies and know-how, joint R&D, leasing of machinery and equipment, the organization of financial and industrial groups, and the development of new production sites in the FEZ "Vitebsk" for the implementation of high-tech export-oriented projects. - Is the creation of an effective management system in the field of innovation activities planned in the region? How will science and the real sector be integrated? - The research and development potential of the Vitebsk region is focused on applied research in the production of new types of building materials, energy and resource conservation, reducing the import intensity of the production sector, increasing the competitiveness of textile and footwear industry products, improving agricultural product processing and production processes, modernizing the country's largest petrochemical complex, and ensuring environmental safety. To this end, a regional scientific and technical program has been developed, in which any organization in the region proposing modern innovative ideas and projects can participate. The program is a set of research, experimental design, and experimental technological work, organizational and economic developments, and measures aimed at solving the most significant scientific, technical, economic, and social problems of the region. - Oleg Sergeevich, you will agree that capital is needed to create innovative production facilities. How does the region intend to attract investment? - Our region has certain investment advantages, including a favorable geographical location in close proximity to the markets of the EU countries and the Russian Federation, a well-developed industrial potential, the availability and continuous development of raw material zones for the production of meat, dairy, and vegetable products, various wood products, peat, dolomite, flax, and rapeseed, and the production of a wide range of building materials; a developed network of main transport communications: pipeline, rail, road, and air; qualified labor resources; as well as the availability of scientific personnel and applied scientific and technical developments. Additional advantages include stable ties with the regions of Latvia, Lithuania, and the Russian Federation, which have centuries-old history and traditions, and common borders in close proximity to the regional center. Annually, enterprises in the region attract about $800 million in foreign investment in the form of loans and borrowings for technical re-equipment and modernization, including about $100 million for communal organizations and business structures. With the use of foreign credit lines, comprehensive modernization and technical re-equipment of enterprises in the meat and dairy and canning industries, and agricultural organizations are being carried out. Foreign investments have been attracted from 26 countries worldwide. Among them are Russia, Poland, Turkey, Germany, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, the USA, Belgium, Denmark, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Italy, Greece, France, Canada, and other states. Within the framework of Decree No. 10 "On Creating Additional Conditions for Investment Activities in the Republic of Belarus," which provides significant preferences to investors, 34 investment agreements totaling about Br490 billion have been concluded during 2009-2011, including 12 agreements with the participation of foreign investors totaling $147 million. It is worth noting that Br1130 billion of investment in fixed assets was used for the economic development of the region in January-March of the current year. The implementation of large investment projects is underway, such as the reconstruction of existing and creation of new production capacities at OAO Ekomol in the Orsha district, the construction of a shopping center on Beshenkovichi Highway in Vitebsk by OOO Tabak-invest, the organization of rapeseed processing by ZAO GlubokoeBioProdukt, the construction of a mini-hydroelectric power station on the spillway of the "Dolomit" quarry, and the commissioning of roadside service facilities in each of the region's districts. To present investment and innovation proposals, international investment forums are planned to be held in each city and district of the region, as well as regional forums. For the first time in the region, the international investment and innovation forum "Innovative Business - Investment of the Future" will be held. It is scheduled for May 20-21. - The regional innovation forum is being held for the first time in the republic. What will it offer to potential investors? - During the forum, a scientific and practical exhibition of innovative and investment projects "Science. Innovations. Investments," a contact and cooperation exchange, presentations of priority projects, and visits to enterprises and investment sites are planned. Thus, we intend to promote the activation of cooperation processes between regions, cities, and economic entities, to increase innovative, investment, and export potential, to facilitate the implementation of joint projects, and to present innovative ideas and developments. We hope that the forum will contribute to the conclusion of agreements and the creation of joint ventures, including venture production facilities. Investors will have the opportunity to familiarize themselves with projects already successfully implemented in the region, communicate with businessmen engaged in investment activities in our region, and resolve all their questions on-site by participating in the contact and cooperation exchange. The priority areas of the forum will be innovative technologies in logistics, energy saving, food and woodworking industries, mechanical engineering, pharmaceuticals, and tourism. A total of about 150 projects and proposals will be presented at the forum. For example, the creation of several territorial transport and logistics centers designed to handle transportation and cargo processing at the customer's location. Based on the Vitebsk airport, a hotel complex with an information and logistics center, office space, a leisure center, a restaurant, a bar, a computer center, and a bank branch is planned. The creation of the "Grigorovshchina" logistics center in the Verkhnedvinsk district involves the organization of an international transport corridor ensuring the movement of goods from the Baltic countries to the Customs Union countries through Belarus with a full range of services for foreign economic activities. In addition, at the forum, investors will be offered projects for the production of building materials, pharmaceuticals, pectin, resource and energy saving, based on raw material capabilities and innovative technologies, as well as investment projects for the development of services and tourism. Representatives of business circles from Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, Georgia, and the PRC have confirmed their participation in the forum. Diana KURILO, BELTA.-0-