Development Bank increases financial support for economic initiatives of Grodno region 

Photo by the Development Bank July 14, MINSK . The Development Bank continues to increase financial support for regional economic initiatives - after visiting the Vitebsk Region, Chairman of the Board Sergei Stolyarchuk arrived in the Grodno Region. Such working visits by the management of the financial institution are an effective element that complements the bank's daily work to strengthen the economic potential of the regions and give targeted impetus to the implementation of the most important projects, a BELTA correspondent was told in the press service of the Development Bank.

The meeting with the Governor of the Grodno Region Yuri Karayev is the first event in the schedule of the visit and is important in terms of updating the most promising areas of interaction between the bank and the region. "The region is ensuring the progressive development of all industries. Investment projects significant for the country are being implemented, including with the support of the Development Bank. Like any other region of the republic, we are interested in the effectiveness of each economic initiative: from the prudent use of financial resources at the stage of creating new production facilities to the sale of their finished products," the chairman of the regional executive committee said at the beginning of the meeting.

During the dialogue, the leaders agreed that in order to activate production initiatives in the widest range, a financial infrastructure is needed, which could not only help attract financing, but also conduct a deep examination of projects for their prospects, viability and sustainability. One of the important elements of such infrastructure is the Development Bank. "The bank's ecosystem is built in such a way that support for financed projects is carried out right up to the launch of production capacities or shipment of products to the buyer in the case of EXPORT support. Such work allows not only to create modern competitive production, profitably sell finished products abroad, but also effectively use financial resources," emphasized Sergey Stolyarchuk.

The Governor and the HEAD of the Development Bank discussed both current areas of cooperation and promising investment and export areas. After which Sergey Stolyarchuk visited enterprises in the region. Among the first was Gronitex OJSC - a modern textile production facility equipped with the latest models of equipment. The Development Bank successfully cooperates with it in the export direction. At present, taking into account the stable and constantly growing demand for products, including from foreign buyers, the enterprise and the financial institution are working prior to financing an investment project for the production of yarn and sewing threads using modern natural and chemical fibers. This will expand the range of manufactured products, as well as increase production volumes. 

As a result of the project implementation, the production of import-substituting single-component and multi-component yarn of various linear densities, as well as sewing threads using modern types of chemical fibers, which allow obtaining valuable resulting properties of the products, will be created. The investment project will allow the enterprise to expand the range of simultaneously processed products - up to six product ranges, reduce the time for refilling equipment, and also respond faster to consumer requests, increase the production volumes of existing products and produce fundamentally new types both for Gronitex and for the republic as a whole.
The next item on the visit program is the Grodno Mechanical Plant. In early May of this year, the Development Bank made a decision to finance an investment project for the technical modernization of the enterprise's production building. The economic initiative is included in the list of import-substituting production projects of the target plan for the socio-economic development of the Republic of Belarus for 2025.
The plant understands: if you want to be competitive, use the opportunities and do not hesitate. Therefore, two months after the Development Bank approved the financing, the equipment is already in the workshop and awaiting commissioning. 

The topic of export financing is also relevant for the plant. Moreover, a full list of financial instruments of the bank is being worked out here: from pre-export financing to providing resources to non-residents. In this area, Sergey Stolyarchuk emphasized that a new format of interaction with partners is available: an agreement was signed between the Development Bank and Sberbank, which allows providing Russian buyers with comfortable financing in Belarusian rubles. 

Representatives of the enterprise also said that the main achievement of the plant is the development of production of more than 60 types and modifications of vehicles for the transportation of various substances in tanks according to its own developments. "These are petroleum products, acids, MILK , ALCOHOL and liquefied hydrocarbon gases, bitumen , bulk and powdered materials and others. Our record result is the release of more than 60% of new types of equipment per year. All of them are our own scientific developments," the enterprise emphasized.
Sergey Stolyarchuk immediately focused on this topic: this year, the Development Bank created a credit product with truly unprecedented financing conditions for the commercialization of scientific results. "If we buy all the equipment and technologies in other countries, we will not be able to use our economy as effectively as possible. Our own scientific development is a multi-effect for the real sector of the country, which receives not only new technology or products, but also the loading of capacities for the creation of equipment. This, in turn, means new jobs with decent wages, and innovative products with high added value, and modern competitive production in general," noted the Chairman of the Board of the Development Bank.

At the end of the meeting, representatives of the plant and the head of the Development Bank agreed to strengthen work in the direction of export financing and commercialization of scientific results for even more effective interaction.