The Vitebsk Oblast is located in the northern part of Belarus. It borders upon Lithuania, Latvia and Russia and occupies 40 thousand square kilometres. The Oblast comprises 21 administrative territorial districts. The population totals 1.334 million, with urban dwellers accounting for some 70% of the total.

The city of Vitebsk, a major cultural and industrial centre of the republic, is the administrative centre of the Oblast. Vitebsk-made TV-sets Vityaz, silk, carpets, BelWest and Marko footwear are known in many countries.

Vitebsk companies maintain trade links with 40 countries. The major trade partners are Russia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine and Moldova.

The city has a developed educational network and is home to the country’s oldest educational establishments such as Vitebsk State University named after P.M. Masherov. Vitebsk State Medical University has seven faculties and a central research lab. Graduates of the university work in 109 countries.

The State Veterinary Medicine Academy is the national leader in training veterinary medics and zoologist engineers. The academy educates students from 12 countries.

Vitebsk State Technological University represents a synergy of educational, research and manufacturing facilities. Scientific efforts are also led by the Economic Research Institute of the Economy Ministry and the Acoustic Engineering Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus.
 

The core of the Vitebsk Oblast industry is power generation (Lukoml State District Power Plant, Novopolotsk Combined Heat Power Plant), oil processing and petrochemistry (Naftan, Polymir, and Polotsk Steklovolokno), mechanical engineering, light and food industries. The Oblast produces all of the country’s linen cloth, polyethylene, half of the petrochemical products and power, around 40 % of carpets, over 30 % of hosiery. The Oblast also produces machine-tools, footwear, construction materials, fat, tinned meat and milk.

 

The largest specialised enterprises are concentrated in Vitebsk, the Polotsk industrial node and Orsha.

More than a thousand of the Oblast’s economic agents are actively involved in foreign trade, with half of the region’s make shipped to almost 80 countries.

The agriculture specialises in grain and forage crops as well as flax. Fishery is well-developed.
In the Oblast there are explored reserves of dolomite, with some of them commercially developed. There are reserves of cement and fusible clays and sandy loam, a lot of peat and construction sand.

 

The Oblast has the country’s largest density of rivers and the largest lake area. The Vitebsk Oblast makes part of the Euroregion Lake District.

International trunk railroads Moscow-Orsha-Minsk-Warsaw, Saint Petersburg–Vitebsk-Orsha-Kiev, Smolensk-Vitebsk-Polotsk-Riga pass through the Oblast. The largest railway junctions are Orsha, Vitebsk and Polotsk.
The major motorways are Moscow-Orsha-Minsk-Brest, Saint Petersburg-Vitebsk-Orsha-Kiev, Smolensk-Vitebsk- Polotsk-Daugavpils, and Vitebsk-Lepel-Minsk.

Waterway navigation is used along the river Western Dvina from Velizh to Polotsk and along the Dnepr from Orsha and on. There is an airport in Vitebsk.

The free economic zone Vitebsk was set up in August 1999. It is located in the city of Vitebsk. On preferential terms resident companies are given production premises and installations for various purposes with the total area as large as 50,000 square metres. The FEZ offers land plots fit for building new facilities. The production premises are located within the city and have all the utilities, including automobile and railway access. The buildings, facilities and land plots are rented on a long-term basis.

Investors are provided with the necessary conditions for creating proprietary infrastructure. As of January 1, 2008 FEZ Vitebsk had 31 resident companies from 12 countries. In FEZ Vitebsk there are successfully operating industrial enterprises, which produce construction materials, foodstuffs, petroleum products, garments, timber, electronics and veterinary medications. Resident companies of FEZ Vitebsk also offer chemicals for agriculture, fibre optic cables, waste treatment installations and equipment, liquid crystal displays, fur goods and lighting fixtures.

The production of fibre optic cables by Russian Soyuz- Kabel LLC is one of the successful projects being implemented in FEZ Vitebsk. The company exports almost the entire output to Russia. Over the last several years around $8 million has been invested in manufacturing.

As of January 1, 2008, FEZ Vitebsk drew Br93.5 billion in investments.

Vitebsk Mechanical Engineering Plant Novmash, which specialises in manufacturing oil and gas equipment, became a resident company of FEZ Vitebsk in 2007. Other new residents are Vityas (TV sets), BELIT (components for TV sets and home appliances), PECTO LLC (pectin and pectin-containing products), furniture maker Vifurn.

 
Sightseeing attractions

There are 600 architectural monuments, 136 historical and cultural monuments, 625 archaeological monuments in the Vitebsk Oblast. The history and the modern state are reflected by 27 museums, including the Vitebsk Oblast Local Lore Museum and the National Polotsk Historical and Cultural Museum-Preserve, one of the richest in monuments.

The Vitebsk land is closely connected with the art of internationally recognised painters I.Repin, I.Khrutsky, K.Malevich, M.Chagall, M.Savitsky, Z.Azgur. The Vitebsk Oblast welcomes an international children’s plain air named after I.Repin and an international Chagall’s plain air as a tribute to the prominent artists of the past and a kind of creative studio for the modern followers of the Vitebsk art school.

Vitebsk has the National Academic Drama Theatre named after Yakub Kolas, Belarusian Theatre Lyalka, a regional philharmonic, a concert hall. 

The international art festival Slavonic Bazaar in Vitebsk, a major event for Belarus and the world, has become the symbol of festival movement. The festival gathers popular artists from many countries, theatre figures, movie directors, actors, painters as well as prominent public figures and politicians. Slavonic Bazaar in Vitebsk has been awarded “The Festival of the Year” twice by the International Federation of Festival Organizations (FIDOF) for professionalism, irreproachable organisation, mastery of performers, and the popularisation of higher humanistic purposes at the international level.

The Vitebsk Oblast hosts traditional musical festivals: a festival named after Sollertinsky, a jazz music festival, a bard music festival Vitebsk Fall, a guitar music festival Minstrel, an international festival of modern choreography, a festival of ballet dance, a festival of organ music; a contest of dress designers White Amphora; annual folklore holidays Ringing Cymbals, Dnepr Voices, Braslav Lightnings.

One of the most ancient Belarusian cities, Polotsk, is famous for its Sofia Cathedral and Saviour Transfiguration Church with original frescos of the 11th century. Both the architectural monuments are part of the world cultural heritage. It was in Polotsk that the masterpiece of applied arts, the famous cross of Euphrosyne of Polotsk was made. The relics of Saint Euphrosyne are kept in the Saint Euphrosyne Convent.

Polotsk is the native land of Frantsisk Skorina. Thanks to Skorina Belarusians were among the first Europeans to get a printed Bible in 1517.

In the Vitebsk Oblast there is the most beautiful place in Belarus – the national park Braslav Lakes. Water ecological systems with versatile and sometimes unique flora and fauna are the key riches of the Braslav Lakes, home to over 800 plant varieties, including around 20 rare ones and listed in the Red Book of the Republic of Belarus. In the lakes one can find about 30 species of fish, including eel of economic importance. The park is a home to up to 35 % of the birds nesting in Belarus, including 45 species listed in the Red Book. There abide rare animals such as badgers, lynxes, brown bears, flying squirrels, elks, boars and roe deer.

The Oblast has 24 health rehabilitation centres, tourist recreational centres, including well-known Belarusian resorts Lettsy, Braslav, Braslav Lakes, Losvido, and Orsha.