Liepāja rapidly develops its business parks

The Swedish manufacturer of medical mattresses 'Care of Sweden' plans to invest €1.7 million in a production facility in Liepāja, adding to over twenty recent investors in the city, Latvian Radio reported June 6.
In Liepaja, a number of business parks have been set up so far, which have been able to attract investors mainly from Scandinavian countries, and over the past five years, there have been 20 new plants built in Liepāja. 

The Swedish company, which is the newest investor in Liepāja, will start its activities in the fall of this year in the area of Old Ostmala Business Park (VOBP), and employees are already being trained in the Swedish company. The area of the production hangar will be 3,000 square meters.

The company's operational director, Pierre Andersson, said:

“We chose Liepāja for a number of reasons, it is certainly the geographical location – a port city, as well as the proximity of two other ports approximately 100 km away, the ports of Ventspils and Klaipeda. There is also a good business climate in Liepaja that has affected our choice. Although we are aware that there are problems with qualified labor force, we believe that we can train our personnel,” Andersson said.

The company exports its output – medical mattresses – to 35 countries around the world, and its largest market is Australia. The Liepāja plant will be another step in strengthening the European market. If the intention succeeds, the company could invest up to three million euro sin Liepāja. The city will also now have 30 new jobs.

Liepājas SEZ manager Uldis Hmieļevskis said that it is important to work in synergy between entrepreneurs, investors, the municipality and Liepāja Special Economic Area (SEZ). It has also made it possible to reach the target of building more than 20 new plants in a few years.

“At the beginning of 2017, all citizens indicated in polls that employment and jobs are the biggest issues that should be addressed. We had already started to work on investment, and the Karosta Industrial Park was constructed [..]. At the time, it was a very ambitious target, ten new plants in four years. At that rate, nothing had ever been done before. At the moment, it's over twenty, it's hard to event count precisely, because it's all in a couple of months' time,” he said.

Production plants are established using the business resources on their own as well as by linking banks and EU funding.

Authors: Eng.LSM.lv (Latvian Public Broadcasting), Inga Ozola (Latvian Radio)
Photo: Liepājas SEZ