Minister: Fibenol choosing Latvia, not good news for Estonia
The Minister of Economy and Information Technology Tiit Riisalo (Eesti 200) said he regrets Fibenol's decision to invest in Latvia over Estonia, but said the state has worked to create good conditions. The Ministry's long-term economic development plan should try to avoid similar scenarios in the future.
This is certainly not happy news, Riisalo said told Friday's "Aktuaalne kaamera" when asked about Fibenol's plan to build a €700 million biorefinery in Latvia. Initially, the company considered investing in Estonia.
"The owners of the company also said that the attitude of the Estonian officials was constructive and that to get this plant up and running, a pilot project was launched in Estonia and was supported by both Estonian and EU funds," the minister said.
Arto Aas, head of the Estonian Employers' Confederation (Tööandjate Keskliit), said he hoped Fibenol's decision is not final.
"That it is actually still possible to keep these investments in Estonia. But the state and the government also have a very important role to play here – whether they will now shrug their shoulders and say that such an investment of several hundred million euros is going away, or whether they will still make an additional effort. But in itself, of course, this is a negative signal and a symptom that something is wrong with Estonia's business environment and investment climate," he said.
On Friday, the Ministry of Economic Affairs presented a plan that aims to improve the investment climate and the competitiveness of the economy. It is hoped this will double Estonia's economy by 2035.
"Above all, we want to ensure that economic competition issues are raised to the same level of seriousness as national defense issues in Estonia. When we make one decision or another, and not only in the Ministry of Economic Affairs, that we seriously consider how it will affect the competitiveness of the economy and make decisions that support it," Riisalo said.
Commenting on the plans, Aas said: "In our view, it is commendable that the Ministry of Economic Affairs has drawn up such a plan. It is ambitious and it has high targets, but that is what is needed in the Estonian economy and in state management. But our main concern is whether these plans will be put into practice – whether others, apart from the Minister of Economy and the Ministry of Economic Affairs, will stick to the plan."
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Editor: Marko Tooming, Helen Wright
