Business news

VITEBSK, 15 May (BelTA) - The Belwest footwear producer is considering the possibility of setting up an enterprise to manufacture bottom parts of footwear at one of the production sites in Vitebsk with the participation of an Italian investor, Belwest Director General Yuri Sumaneyev told BelTA.

He said that the legal framework for the implementation of the project is currently under development. The company is now the negotiations with the initiator of the project, an Italian company, one of the leading companies in this segment of footwear production. The program of joint investment activities to be carried out by the founding companies will be developed taking into account the agreements on the terms of creation of the authorized capital of the future legal entity and on the list of the necessary production equipment that have already been reached between the companies. Yuri Sumaneyev believes that the investments will amount to not less than €1 million.

The enterprise will be manufacturing import-substituting bottom parts of footwear such as soles, heels, and different types of insoles from Belarusian rawhide. The founders of the new Belarusian-Italian enterprise expect that it will not only satisfy the demand of the domestic footwear producers, but will also supply its products abroad.

The Belarus-Russia joint venture Belwest is one of the largest footwear producers in Belarus with annual output of 2.5 million pairs of shoes. The enterprise was set up in June 1988 with the participation of the Vitebsk footwear producer Krasny Oktyabr and the German company Salamander. In 2002, Belwest became a Belarus-Russia joint enterprise. The state owns 55% of its shares, the rest belongs to the Russian investment industrial company Investprom. Almost 90% of the products are distributed via the company’s network of over 350 retail stores in Belarus, Russia, and the Baltic countries.