A visit by a delegation of Turkish businessmen is planned to be organized in the FEZ "Vitebsk" by the end of the year

April 9, Vitebsk / Sergey Kotovets - BELTA/. A visit of a delegation of Turkish businessmen to the FEZ "Vitebsk" is planned to be organized before the end of 2010. An agreement on this was reached during the trip of the delegation of the Vitebsk FEZ administration to Turkey, which took place in early April. This was reported to a BELTA correspondent by Deputy Head of the FEZ Administration Sergey Yurkevich. "At business meetings with Turkish partners, we preliminarily agreed on the possibility of a business visit of entrepreneurs from this Middle Eastern country to the Vitebsk region within the current year," said Sergey Yurkevich. It is assumed that Turkish businessmen will be introduced to the investment potential of the FEZ and the activities of existing residents, presentations of promising investment projects will be prepared, and proposals for the creation of joint ventures with the participation of Turkish capital will be formed. The administration of the FEZ "Vitebsk" has for the first time appealed to the potential of the Turkish business community for investment cooperation. During the visit, the delegation of the FEZ "Vitebsk" took part in the business forum "Belarus-Turkey", organized by the confederation of businessmen and industrialists "TUSKON" (uniting about 15 thousand businessmen) and the association of free industrialists and businessmen "HURSIAD". For the Belarusian delegation, which also included representatives of the administration of the FEZ "Mogilev", meetings were organized with the mayors of the cities of Gaziantep, Samsun, Amasya, the leadership of the chambers of commerce and industry of these cities, as well as visits to the most successfully developing Turkish enterprises in the light and food industries, manufacturers of packaging materials and furniture. Within the framework of the business forum, presentations of the free economic zones "Vitebsk" and "Mogilev" were held, and the prospects and potential of bilateral cooperation, as well as possible directions and spheres of business interaction, were discussed. "The results of communication with representatives of official and business circles of Turkey indicate the interest of Turkish business in developing trade cooperation with Belarusian partners, as well as in implementing joint projects," noted Sergey Yurkevich. The contacts established during the visit will allow for the organization of business interaction between Belarusian and Turkish businessmen, he added. The visit of the Belarusian delegation was organized by the Embassy of the Republic of Belarus in Turkey. The FEZ "Vitebsk" was established in August 1999. Currently, there are 34 residents operating in the FEZ, including 4 new enterprises that received this status in 2009 with a declared investment volume totaling 11 million euros and $39.3 million. The industrial potential of the FEZ is based on enterprises operating in the fields of machine building, woodworking, food, chemical, fuel, and light industries. The average number of employees in the enterprises of the FEZ is about 8 thousand people. The territory of the free economic zone includes seven sectors with a total area of over 1.2 thousand hectares.