Opinions & Interviews

GOMEL, 19 May (BelTA) – Belarus is an excellent springboard for foreign investors to penetrate the market of the Eurasian Economic Union. Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko made the statement in his welcome address before participants of the Gomel Economic Forum on 19 May, BelTA has learned.

Vladimir Semashko underlined that comfortable conditions for investors have been enabled in Belarus. Belarus’ membership in the Eurasian Economic Union is the key condition. Apart from Belarus the Eurasian Economic Union includes Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Armenia. “This is a market of over 180 million people. Before the crisis its economy was gaining 6.5% every year. By the way, Belarus is rapidly recovering from the crisis. And I see all the signs of economy growth in Russia and Kazakhstan,” he added.

The deputy prime minister stated that representation and results of the Gomel Economic Forum get better every year. Gomel Oblast has managed to secure good financial and economic performance in anticipation of the forum. “Because the country has survived a crisis, a period of recession, and now continues developing according to the rules the Belarus president has defined. Q1 2017 statistics is self-explanatory: out of the nine targets we missed only the gross regional product — 99% instead of 99.6%,” he said.

Speaking about the importance of the Gomel Economic Forum, Vladimir Semashko noted that efforts to attract foreign investments into the region are the determining factor of the forum. Innovation and investment activities are always pursued in Gomel Oblast just like the rest of the country. A number of serious investment projects are in progress in Gomel Oblast now. Those include the modernization of Mozyr Oil Refinery, the construction of a sulfated bleached pulp factory in Svetlogorsk, the construction of the Petrikov mining and processing factory, and the construction of a pasteboard factory in Dobrush. The implementation of these projects will have a serious positive effect on the regional budgets and the national one, the deputy prime minister was convinced.

It is the fourteenth Gomel Economic Forum on record. This year the forum has attracted about 700 people from 16 countries. Guests are invited to implement 155 investment projects, buy 137 real estate properties for doing business, and 191 land plots without auctions. During the Gomel Economic Forum 14 R&D projects are offered for joint implementation for the first time ever. The first forum took place in 2004. Since then it went all the way from a regional event to a large-scale international one.