OREANDA-NEWS. February 01, 2010. Investors from 27 countries provided their finances and technologies to the companies of the Gomel oblast in 2009.

Most active were investors from Austria, Russia, the Netherlands, France, Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland and other countries. Investment momentum was preserved by the organizations of all forms of ownership. According to the committee, raising investment and their effective utilization are one of the main instruments of improving the performance of companies. In 2009 the region raised around Br7 trillion, which was up 17% from 2008. A third part of this sum (more than Br2.4 trillion) was invested in fixed capital by municipal organizations of the oblast.

Organizations of all forms of ownership have been implementing more than 100 investment projects. Many of them are part of the state and oblast-wide small towns development and rural revival programs, innovation program and others. The Gomel oblast ranks second after Minsk in terms of investment per one resident.

The economy committee believes that decree No 10 “On creating additional conditions for the investment activity in the Republic of Belarus” adopted on 6 August 2009 served as a big stimulus for foreign and national investments. The document has considerably simplified investors’ work. For instance, it is possible now to develop projects and construct facilities simultaneously. The rules governing the allotment of land plots have been simplified for investors.

According to the economy committee, the Gomel oblast has become one the first Belarusian regions which concluded the investment agreement with the Finnish company Ingman Ice Cream to modernize the Gomel Ice Cream Factory. Some other foreign companies have already offered their investment offers to the Gomel authorities. For instance, the Lithuanian Biofortis would like to process rapeseed in the region, the Iranian Azarab would like to construct a cement plant. All in all, there are 16 investment agreements in Belarus’ state register.

In 2009 the Gomel oblast modernized existing manufactures and set up new production facilities. The Mozyr Dairy Plant, the Rogachev Milk Cannery and the Gomel Dairy Plant implemented a number of projects. The Yelsk Canning Plant launched a production line to make pureed fruits and vegetables, the Narovlya based BelEuroDom company started to produce structural timber, the Domanovichi vegetable dehydration plant launched the production of shiitake mushrooms. The Mozyr Refinery and Svetlogorsk Khimvolokno continued the implementation of their important investment projects as well. Companies of the Gomel-Raton Free Economic Zone Kashtan, Alkopack and also the glassware plant and the Gomel Ice Cream Factory are implementing projects with the help of foreign investments.