MINSK, 17 September (BelTA) – Belarus' Ambassador to Austria Andrei Dapkiunas has visited the federal state of Vorarlberg, BelTA learned from the Belarusian embassy in Vienna.
“This federal state, like Upper Austria and Styria, is among the most developed regions of the country. It is home to about 20,000 enterprises that exported goods and services worth €10 billion last year. Vorarlberg, just like Belarus, has an export-oriented economy: 60% of its GDP is exported. About 2.5 million tourists visit this region annually. A number of world famous European companies run their headquarters and production facilities there. The cooperation in the manufacturing sector between Belarus and Vorarlberg began in the 1980s,” the diplomatic mission informed.
The Belarusian diplomat met with senior officials of the Vorarlberg regional administration. The parties reaffirmed their commitment to facilitating and promoting contacts between Belarusian manufacturers and companies from Vorarlberg. They pointed to the important role governments play in maintaining bilateral contacts.
The ambassador's meeting with executives of the Chamber of Commerce of Vorarlberg focused on ways to facilitate the exchange of trade and investment proposals of Belarusian and Austrian businesses and establishment of direct contacts between the business circles of Belarus and Austria.
Andrei Dapkiunas held talks with top managers of some large industrial companies, including those that have been operating in Belarus for a long time and those that are interested in new joint projects with Belarus in trade and manufacturing.
Andrei Dapkiunas met with Hubert Bertsch, chief of Bertsch Holding Gmbh, to discuss projects to streamline technological and energy processes at Belarusian chemical companies and oil refineries, energy-saving in cement production, and supply of high-tech equipment for the Belarusian dairy and meat industry. The Belarusian diplomat thanked Hubert Bertsch for many years of hard work as co-chairman of the Austria-Belarus Business Council.
During his meetings with Austrian industrialists, the Belarusian ambassador suggested considering the launch of high-tech production facilities in Belarusian free economic zones, including in Brest, Grodno, Mogilev, as well as in the China-Belarus Industrial Park Great Stone.
Other topics on the agenda were launching an eco-friendly production of innovative building materials in Belarus and the purchase of Belarusian fruit by Austrian companies.
