Brest Region

Brest Region

Brest Region is the western gate of Belarus and the center of Belarus Polesye. It is situated right in the center of Europe at the crossing of east-west and north-south roads. The region's territory is 32,700 square kilometers, with 1.5 million population. Brest has 300,000, Baranovichi 170,000, and Pinsk 130,000 population.

Brest is known by the Brest Fortress, Belovezhsky Forest, and the railroads and highways linking West Europe with East Europe.

Brest Regions is also known by its natural beauties. One of Europe's oldest and unique nature and game reserves – National Park Belovezhsky Virgin Forest – is located in the north-western part of the region. The Park is inhabited by bison, deer, wild boar, elk, roe, and beaver. It is a unique "green pearl", the only intact virgin forest on the European continent. It has the status of biosphere reserve and the Council of Europe diploma.

The symbol of Brest is the Brest Fortress. It was built in 1842 and was an art of fortification at that time. But it became known to the whole world in June and July 1941 when the garrison courageously withstood the Nazi invasion. Brest Fortress was awarded the rank of Hero Fortress. The Memorial Brest Hero Fortress was solemnly opened September 25, 1971.

Brest Region has got a lot of monuments and memorials of Adam Mickievitz, Napoleon Orda, Kazimierz Lyszczinski, Tadeusz Kosciuszko, Michal Oginski, and others.

Brest is the beginning of Bela Rus, people come here to visit the surprisingly well preserved Slav settlement of the 11th century. But today the Brest city and region are no less interesting from the point of view of their industrial potential and perspective of social and economic development. Their attractiveness in this respect will undoubtedly grow in the future.

Over 1.5 million people live here. There are two state higher educational establishments, and 16 scientific research, design and exploration organizations. The research is mainly focused on applied studies. Institutes are doing research in the areas of biology, waste treatment, and development of new construction materials.

There are more than 300 industrial enterprises operating in the region, with annual foreign trade turnover exceeding $1 billion. The leading positions are occupied by consumer goods and food industries, and the mechanical engineering plants. Private companies account for over 60% of the total industrial sector.

Today the region produces more than 10% of the overall republican industrial output and is the only national producer of gas stoves, electric lamps, and metal-cutting tools. Almost half of the republican output of carpets, hosiery, wood chipboards, tiles, and one third of raw sugar and cheeses are produced here.

The region also produces equipment for textile, meat-packing and dairy industries, public catering and trade, as well as automatic lines, press-forging plants, radio electronic appliances, alternating-current motors, paint and varnish materials and many other goods.

The major regional exporters are: JV OJSC Brestgazoapparat (gas stoves), ZAO Pinskdrev (furniture, wood chipboards, plywood, matches), Baranovichi machine-tool plant AO Atlant (refrigerator compressors), Zhabinkovsky Sugar Plant (white sugar), Baranovichi cotton production association Blakit (yarn and crude fabric), OJSC Brest Carpets (carpets), Pinsk production and trade association Polesye (knitwear and yarn), OJSC Brest Hose Factory (hosiery).

In a word, the region's industrial potential allows a fast response to various consumer demands and buildup of industrial output.

The agricultural sector specializes in meat, dairy, sugar beet, flax, vegetable and potato production. The public agricultural sector can produce over 250,000 tons of meat and about a million tons of milk, which allows to fully meet the region's requirements in meat and milk products and create large export reserves.

The regional construction sector is large enough and is being successfully reformed. It mostly produces materials for industrial enterprises: building lime, bricks, plant cast reinforced concrete components, tiles, nonmetal construction materials.

The region also has a large deposit of granite used for the production of crushed stone (Mikashevichi). Stolinsky district has got unique deposits of clays used for the production of bricks with freeze-thaw endurance over 100 cycles. The Belarus major chalk deposit Khotislavskoye in Maloritsky district has got reserves of more than 500 million tons. The capping is a layer of pure quartz sand for production of reinforced concrete and silicate concrete. These deposits are worth developing to full capacity.

Approximately 80% of the CIS land exports to Western Europe goes through Brest Region. This presupposes developed commodity services in this region. One in four dollars earned by road transport in Belarus is provided by the Brest operators.

One sixth of the republican trade turnover is provided by the Brest regional trade. Geographic position of Belarus is favorable for international trade. Almost 700 enterprises of all forms of ownership, private firms and businessmen are involved in export/import operations with 100 countries of the world resulting in positive common foreign trade balance.

More than 500 organizations with foreign interest are registered in Brest Region. It was not by chance that the Belarus Government decided to establish a free economic zone in the region. About 100 resident companies are registered in the region, and 75% of them have foreign investors. The most attractive for investors are the light and food industries and transport services. The major investors are Russia, Italy, Germany, Poland and Switzerland.

In May 1998 Brest Region joined the crossborder association Euroregion Bug, the other two members of which are Lublin Region of Poland and Volyn Region of Ukraine.

The Brest regional administration invites all interested investors to join the construction projects (supermarkets, hotels, recreation zones, and service plazas) in specially allocated areas in the main cities (Brest, Baranovichi, Pinsk) and on the main roads of the region.

These investment proposals are very promising due to the advantageous location of the proposed projects in large cities and on busy roads.

Thanks to the advantageous geographic position of the region, transport, tourist and road services are the main priorities in the investment proposals. Brest Region is a large market for these businesses.

Brest Region, particularly the cities of Brest, Baranovichi and Pinsk have a large automobile fleet (some 500 vehicles, of which 115 are in the Big Brest, 65 in Baranovichi, and 55 in Pinsk). They require more gas stations and other road services which promises large profits. The flow of transit transport through the border crossing points Kozlovichi and Warsaw Bridge should also be mentioned in this connection.

Approximately 300,000 transport vehicles travel monthly the International Highway M1/E30 (Berlin-Moscow) which crosses the entire Brest Region. Other republican roads passing through Brest Region are also very busy: M10, P6, P13, P88, P105v and others. The resolution of the Brest regional administration provides for the construction of numerous service facilities along these roads.

Practically all economic sectors of Brest Region provide opportunities for those who can look ahead and invest in success. Those who will be able to seize these opportunities will stand to gain.

Contact information:

Brest Regional Executive Committee

11, Lenina Str., Brest, 224006

Tel. (375 162) 235682

Fax: (375 162) 235182

contact@brestregion.by