Business news

MOGILEV, 5 November (BelTA) – The investment portfolio of the 7^th international investment forum Mogilev Oblast – Way to Success that is taking place in Mogilev on 5-7 November is estimated at about $500 million. This is the cost of agreements and protocols of intent signed by participants of the forum with the Mogilev Oblast Executive Committee, BelTA has learned.

For example, the company Servolux has plans to invest $41 million in expanding the broiler chicken complex Servolux Agro. The company Cameliaside Limited will inject $56 million in the construction of a photovoltaic power plant with the capacity of 109MW in Cherikov District. Bobruisk Bread-Making Plant will spend $52 million on the design and turnkey construction of a 54,000 head pig-breeding farm near the village of Glusha, Bobruisk District. ArkhStroiKomplex will channel $37 million into the construction of a power plant using renewable energy in Bykhov. Eurotorg will invest $23 million in the construction of a hypermarket in Mogilev. STL Logistics has signed an agreement to build a container terminal near the Lupolovo station in the Mogilev FEZ. The foreign company Vireo Energy will set up a plant to produce landfill gas that will be used to generate electric and thermal energy. The plant will be located at the municipal solid waste landfill Novo-Mileyevka in Mogilev District.

Top managers of Oil Pack Invest LTD have voiced plans to build a waste sorting and recycling facility with a combined production of electric and thermal energy in Mogilev Oblast. The company will invest about €195 million in the project. The company New Heart Group would like to invest in the construction of a biogas unit at disposal works of the Bobruisk water treatment plant. The company Energy of the Century will set up a 3MW photovoltaic power plant in the village of Polykovichi-2, Mogilev District.

“Investments help set up new companies, create new jobs and increase budget revenues. Most importantly, investments contribute to economic growth and help improve the quality of living,” Deputy Governor of Mogilev Oblast Viktor Nekrashevich said.

The Mogilev Oblast administration is constantly working to create a favorable investment climate in the region. “We know very well how important it is to attract investors and we are ready to provide real support to investment projects that can benefit our region and the country in general,” Viktor Nekrashevich said. The region has everything in place for that: efficient legislation, great production capacities, highly-qualified human resources and developed transport infrastructure. It is for a reason that Mogilev Oblast sits 3^rd in the world in Registering Property and 9^th in the world in Starting a Business in the World Bank’s Doing Business 2013 report. According to Forbes experts, Mogilev Oblast is ahead of the former Soviet Union republics in terms of raising Russian investments.

Over the past five years Mogilev Oblast signed more than 200 investment agreements estimated at about $1.5 billion. Fifty projects worth nearly $200 million have been completed this year. Some 2,500 new jobs have been created.

“All this is a testimony to the increasing interest of foreign and domestic investors in the region,” Viktor Nekrashevich said. The investment forum is getting bigger year to year. Last time the forum was attended by 400 delegates, while this year it has brought together about 600 people from more than 20 countries. These are representatives of the central government, oblast executive committees and the Minsk City Hall, Belarusian and foreign diplomatic missions and the business community of Belarus and other countries. The delegations of a number of countries are led by heads of diplomatic missions.

The international investment forum is held in Mogilev every two years. This time the forum offers four sections: “Free economic zone Mogilev from the Baltic to the Pacific”, “Manufacturing and production of building materials”, “Food industry and agribusiness”, “Promotion of sport and tourism”, as well as an exhibition of investment potential of Mogilev Oblast.

The forum has been organized by the Mogilev Oblast Executive Committee and the Mogilev branch of the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.