The Ministry of Transport and Communications will present two projects worth $50 million at Belarus’ Investment Forum in London, Igor Sirotko, the chief of the investment and technology department of the ministry, told BelTA.
“We plan to showcase the transit potential of the Republic of Belarus and present the programme of development of transport and logistics centres. We also plan to present two investment projects which are aimed at upgrading the fleet of air vessels of the Belavia national carrier and setting up of the Belarusian sea commercial fleet,” he said.
The first project is aimed at acquiring two CRJ aircrafts, $10 million each. In line with the comprehensive transport and road facilities development programme for 2008-2010, Belarus plans to purchase around five planes every year to replace the outdated air vessels with Boeing and CRJ. This year Belavia acquired two Boeings and one CRJ.
According to Igor Sirotko, the second project is no less interesting and important for the Belarusian economy. “Sea transportation is a highly lucrative business. Therefore the issue of setting up the Belarusian commercial fleet is envisaged in the programme of development of inland water and sea transport by 2010,” he added. Belarus is planning to buy a sea dry-cargo vessel of the 35,000-50,000 tonne capacity. The project is aimed at enhancing the efficiency of exports and competitiveness of Belarusian products by means of optimizing transport costs. Belarus intends to purchase two vessels by 2010.
The Ministry is ready to consider all variants of attracting investments in the project: credits, loans, direct foreign investment, up to setting up a joint venture which would include three elements: shipper, forwarding agent and an owner of the vessel,” Igor Sirotko said. Four Belarusian companies have licenses for overseas transportation. Every year the maritime traffic carried out by the ships chartered by Belarusian companies grows. The maritime traffic increased from 1.3 million tonnes in 2005 to 5.3 million tonnes in 2007. All in all, the marine transport ships about 20 million tonnes of Belarusian cargoes a year.
To display the transit possibilities of Belarus at the investment forum, the ministry prepared video materials in Russian and English. Participants of the forum will get the information about the national road network, the terms and advantages of transit via Belarus by all kinds of transport – railway, automobile, air and inland water transport.
As for the transport and logistics centres, the Transport Ministry has prepared information booklets containing the legislation that regulates this kind of activity, describes the sites assigned for construction of such centres, possible privileges and preferences, the terms of work in free economic zones. “Anyway, we will consider all the variants concerning these projects including attraction of direct foreign investments,” the head of the department said.
“We will participate in the forum to present our possibilities officially, to provide objective information about the transport and road infrastructure in Belarus. Moreover, after the forum, we expect an increase in investment proposals from foreign companies, better investment attractiveness of our companies, increased use of Belarus’ transit possibilities,” Igor Sitko said.
Belarus’ Investment Forum in London will be held on November 16-19. Attending the forum will be high-ranking officials of the Republic of Belarus, representatives of the government bodies and also foreign organizations operating in the country. The forum is organised by the National Investment Agency of Belarus with the assistance of the Ministries of Economy and Foreign Affairs, British Eventica Company with the assistance of the Embassy of the Republic of Belarus in Great Britain. The forum will be held with the assistance of the Council of Ministers of Belarus.
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