Actualidad

El Ministro lituano de Economía Rimantas Žylius anunció cuatro nuevos proyectos de inversiones extranjeras directas (IED) por un valor total de 33 millones de euros que generarán al menos 400 nuevos puestos de trabajo.

Fuente: Invest Lithuania

Lithuania attracts Four New Foreign Investment Projects worth EUR 33 million

October 11, 2012, Invest Lithuania

Investors pledge to allocate around EUR 2 million for social welfare

Rimantas Žylius, the Minister of Economy, today announced four new foreign direct investment (FDI) projects with a total value of  EUR 33 million providing at least 400 new jobs.

The projects include a factory built by the German company, Bio-Chem Cleantec, to manufacture biological cleaning products, a financial operations centre for Danske Bank, further expansion by the Norwegian electronics manufacturer, Kitron, in Kaunas and a new Intersurgical medical equipment factory in Alytus.

 Investors have also pledged EUR 2 million towards social welfare projects.

Mr Žylius said: “Today, the success of an innovative business is measured not only by direct economic benefits to the company but also by what it gives back to the community in which it operates. In an attempt to support such initiatives, we have developed a new system to further encourage and facilitate shared value investments, i.e. the investments which provide a direct benefit to the local community and contribute to the long-term improvement of our country’s competitiveness.”

Lithuania is the first member of the European Union to include an assessment of the qualitative benefit of shared value investments when it comes to the evaluation of foreign investment projects.

Bio-Chem Cleantec, which already has experience of shared value investment in Germany, is to build an open plan laboratory, contribute to the maintenance of infrastructure in Elektrenai, as well as promote the study of biology and chemistry to schoolchildren. This is expected to further orientate the country’s economic output towards biotech. This sector currently makes up one per cent of Lithuania’s GDP and this is expected to grow to about two per cent in the coming year.

Kitron, which is seen as one of the most socially responsible manufacturers in Norway, plans to cooperate with Kaunas Technology University to improve study programmes and expand the university’s technological research facilities. The expansion is aimed at increasing not only the company’s production capacity but also the prototyping and development of new products. This will require new skills which the company is ready to develop by working with universities.

As part of its investment in Alytus, Intersurgical is to cooperate further with the Vilnius Gediminas Technical University and the Kaunas Technology University to support study programmes in the Alytus Vocational Centre and to provide student grants. The company, which set up in Pabrade in 1994, has assumed a very important role in the town: it has created 1,500 jobs in a community of 6,000 people, invested in sporting facilities and other social initiatives and employs more than 130 young people in its offices during the summer. It now plans a considerable social investment in Alytus.

Danske Bank, meanwhile, plans to continue its ongoing social programmes including teaching financial literacy and the basics of finance to children, improving the skills of young people and encouraging enterprise through initiatives including the educational game, “Pinigenai”, and a financial literacy contest for schoolchildren.

Since 2008, Lithuania has attracted more than 140 greenfield projects including the Barclays Technology Centre, Western Union’s customer service centre, Moog’s R&D, manufacturing and service centre and Ryanair’s aircraft maintenance and repair facility. 

The value of foreign investment projects implemented between 2008 and 2012 was approximately EUR 2.5 billion with more than 14,000 new jobs created. Of 50 largest taxpaying companies in Lithuania, 27 are foreign. Foreign investors are also the most desirable employers in Lithuania because they offer higher salaries, more attractive working conditions and a better work culture.