Economic-geographical situation

Like the entire Republic of Belarus, Gomel oblast is quite a stable region in socio-economic and political terms. The oblast have been experiencing neither economic, political nor national conflicts. The Belarusian legislation guarantees protection of investments, envisages a number of tax preferences to investors as well as the right to free management of the profits received from investment activities.

Gomel oblast is located in the Southeast of Belarus and borders on Briansk oblast of Russia, as well as on Kiev, Chernigov, Zhitomir and Rovno oblasts of Ukraine.

It has the area of 40,400 square kilometers, which is one fifths of the country’s territory.

About 1,5mln people live in the oblast. The administration center - Gomel – with its 0,5mln residents is the second largest town in Belarus after Minsk.

Gomel oblast has quite favorable natural condition for the development of all spheres of human activities. The climate is continental with warm summer and mild winter. The relief is flat. The oblast’s vegetation period is the longest in the country.

Natural resources

 

 

 

 

 

Among mineral deposits valuable for the national economy are fuel and energy raw materials. About 1500 deposits of peat have been investigated. In 1964 the first commercial oil was extracted in the vicinity of the town of Rechitsa. Over a hundred million tons thereof have been obtained since then.

One third of the territory of the oblast is covered with forests. The oblast is ranked first in forest deposits in Belarus.

The total area of agrarian lands is 1364 thousand hectares. Arable fields occupy 59% of the land, hayfields and pastures – 37%.

In the southeastern part of the Pripyatskaya depression coal deposits were found. The stock of brown coal in Zhitkovichi and Brinevsk deposits is estimated to be one hundred million tons. The investigated deposits of rock salt exceed 22 billion tons. Based on the Mozyr deposit the greatest in the republic salt manufacture was established (JSC Mozyrsol). The oblast has deposits of potassium salts, chalk, construction stones, glass and formwork sands. Searching and assessment works of the diamond deposits are carried out in the oblast.

The oblast has prerequisites for detecting some new sources of raw materials - gypsum, basalt fibers, mineral sorbents, iodine-bromine broth.

Transport infrastructure

 

 

 

 

 

The geographic position of the oblast has predetermined its transformation into a biggest transport junction.

Major thoroughfares go through Gomel oblast. Gomel is located on the junction of the railroads going from Odessa to St. Petersburg via Kiev, from Briansk to Brest. There are exits from Eastern Ukraine and Central Russia to specialized seaports of Klaipeda, Ventspils, Kaliningrad.

Motor transport occupies significant place in the general turnover of goods and passengers. Motorways from St. Petersburg to Odessa, Briansk – Kobrin, Gomel-Minsk pass through the oblast. The town of Gomel has an international airport. The river Sozh links Gomel with the Dnepr. The rivers Pripiat, Dnepr, Berezina are navigable.

The gas lines coming via the oblast include the international oil main line Druzhba, Mozyr mainline, a variety of republican and local gas lines. One of the biggest companies in the oblast is Gomeltransneft Druzhba, which transits Russian oil and transports oil from the SJC Mozyr oil refinery and production association Belorusneft. The general length of the Druzhba oil lines is about 2000 kilometers.

Economic potential

 

 

 

 

 

The Gomel region possesses a considerable economic potential. More than 300 big and medium enterprises are situated on the territory of the Region, their production volume constitutes over 21,9% of the republican volume of industrial output.

Fuel industry, metallurgy, machine-building and metal-working, woodworking, pulp and paper, and chemical ones are the leading branches of industry.

The production of all finished steel of Belarus, forage harvesters, window glass, phosphate fertilizers is carried out in the Gomel Region; here all Byelorussian oil and gas is extracted.

The industry of our Region manufactures over 90% of all Byelorussian steel, common salt, a half of motor petrol, diesel fuel, cardboard, a third of particle boards, about 25% of plywood and paper.

The agroindustrial regional complex can satisfy in full volume the demands of the population in main food products and supply the reprocessing industry with raw materials.

Main agricultural industries are meat and milk cattle breeding, vegetable, potatoes, and flax growing.

Grain crops, about 47% of all sown area, are grown in the Region. 8% are occupied by potatoes, 7% – by vegetables and technical crops. Forage crops grow on 38% of sown area.

The production capacities of enterprises allow to effect the export of canned milk, animal oil,  casein, and canned vegetables.

Over 70% of all manufactured production is exported to foreign markets. Organizations of the Gomel Region carry out export-import operations with 109 countries of the world. Trade with Great Britain, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Italy, the USA, Latvia is deloped especially actively. Within the last few years the steady growth of foreign trade turnover volumes was recorded.

The Russian Federation remains a main foreign economic partner of the Region, its share constitutes about half of foreign trade.

Sci-tech potential

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sci-tech complex is one of the most important factors of the investment attractiveness of Gomel oblast.

Today the sci-tech potential of Gomel oblast yields only to the republic’s capital – Minsk. Gomel oblast numbers 3 institutes of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, 8 higher educational establishments, 6 of which are universities, over 20 industrial scientific and planning institutes, special design and design-technological bureaus.

Gomel possesses regional departments of the Belarusian engineer and engineer-technological academies, the Belarusian scientific-industrial union, the Belarusian community of inventors and rationalizers.

The amount of workers involved in the research and projects reaches almost 3,000 people. On the whole Gomel oblast includes about 150 Doctors of Science and 1,100 candidates of science including 1 academician and 7 corresponding members of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus.

Some 90% of the research and projects are worked out at the application level.

The development of the innovation activity is of great importance for the region. Innovations are considered as the main factor promoting the competitiveness of the economy.

At present Gomel oblast is creating objects of the innovation infrastructure in the town of Gomel. In 2004 Gomel set up a regional department of the republican center of technologies’ transfer. In 2008 was created a technological park and innovation center in the free economic zone Gomel-Raton what should, first of all, render additional benefits for the residents of the technological park and, secondly, become an additional impetus for the technological development of the free economic zone.

Manpower

 

 

 

 

 

Gomel oblast shows high personnel potential of specialists and workers in different spheres. The amount of labor resources makes 924 thousand people /or 64% of the total population of the region/, about 124,000 people with higher and, approximately, 135,000 – with specialized secondary education. The network of the educational establishments includes about 700 general and vocational schools where over 218,000 people study.

Tourism

The Gomel region is famous for its historical past and cultural and spiritual heritage. The region administrative centre – Gomel– is one of the most beautiful Belarusian cities. Gomel Palace and Park Ensemble is a unique republican monument to Gomel architecture from the 18th to mid 19th century. The Palace of the Rumyantsevs-Paskevichs was built in neo-classic style and is the compositional focus of the ensemble. The park was laid out at the end of the 18th century and is the best preserved – with romantic elements extending for 800m along the right bank of the Sozh River. The park has over 9,000 local (and exotic) varieties of tree – including Siberian pine, Japanese larch and Austrian pine. The Palace is located next to the gorgeous Gomel Petropavlovsk Cathedral – built and financed by Earl Rumyantsev. An indispensable element of the palace and park ensemble is the Gomel Chapel which was built in pseudo-Russian style at the end of the 19th century.

The Pripyatsky National Park – with its almost untouched Polesie landscapes – is also located in the region. It is unique in having primeval floodplain oak forests. The park extends for 75,000 hectares and its reserve includes over 30 lakes and several small rivers. It is home to various animals and birds – including such rare species as the black stork and serpent eagle. Park visitors can learn about its natural history or take ecological excursions or romantic trips along the Pripyat. Ancient Slavonic settlements and archaeological monuments can be seen there along with the thousand-year old town of Turov (with its monument to Kirill Turovsky and early 19th century church).

Polessky Radiation Ecological Reserve operates in the region; it was established to preserve the natural environment’s unique landscape and geo-botanical structure which suffered after the radioactive contamination of the Chernobyl accident.