20 May 2003
Brest free economic zone behind investment targets
Brest's free economic zone in southwestern Belarus falls far short of government-set targets for attracting investment.
The Brest regional government has tasked the zone with attracting $125 million, but only $10 million has been pledged by investors so far. The regional investment target is $141 million.
Speaking before regional executives on May 19, Ural Latypov, head of the presidential administration, said that the failure to meet targets threatened to frustrate the government's plans.
Early this year, local authorities expected to draw foreign investment to the region's processing and light industries, mechanical engineering, metal-turning, border infrastructure and road services. Forty-
nine manufacturers contributed sixty projects to a catalog of investment opportunities. Mr. Latypov said that Brest will host a forum on investment in June to be attended by Belarusian leader
Aleksandr Lukashenko.
The Brest free economic zone, which mainly includes woodworking, glass, light industry, food, mechanical engineering, metalworking, retail and public catering companies, has attracted $80 million
in investment in seven years. Almost a third of the total amount (26.49 percent) came from domestic companies, 21 percent from Germany, 15 percent from Russia, and ten percent from Poland. Israeli,
Cypriot, Italian, Swiss and French also invested in businesses there.
Each dollar generated $8.5 in direct returns in 1996-2002, and $12.6 in 2002. Exports grew by 40 percent in 2002 and by 32 percent in the first three months of 2003. The zone has 95 manufacturers employing 6,500. According to its administration, it accounts for 55.6 percent of the total output in Belarus' free economic zones.
http://brestonline.com/en/news/news409.html