In the first half of 2006, small and medium enterprises in the Volyn Oblast received $18 million from 33 foreign direct investments, the Volyn Governor reported on July 7.
Speaking at the seminar on Ukraine’s WTO Accession: Prospects and Challenges for Small and Medium Businesses, which was held in the Volyn capital of Lutsk, Volodymyr Bondar said this is 2.6 times the SME FDI volume in the corresponding period of 2005. He said that over 95 percent of the investments were made in the production sector, in particular woodworking and mechanical engineering, and construction. The rest went to services, including transport, and trade. The FDI countries of origin included Cyprus, Austria, Germany, the British Virgin Islands, Poland, Italy, Canada, and France.
The Volyn Oblast with a population ofover one million has 4,700 on-going small concerns, which provide jobs to 80,000 oblast residents, according to UKRINDUSTRIAL.COM.
