Kaliningrad and region
GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION
The Kaliningrad The Kaliningrad Region founded on the 7th of April 1946 is the western part of the Russian Federation and is entirely isolated from the rest of the country by land borders of foreign states and by the international sea waters. The closest Russian Regional centre — Pskov city — is 800 km away from Kaliningrad, and the distance to Moscow is 1289 km. The only Russian ice-free port on the Baltic sea is situated here. The transit communication routes crossing the region are the shortest ways linking Russia with countries of Western Europe.
Territory. The region's territory is 15 100 sq. km. The maximum distance from the east to the west of the region is 195 km, and from the north to the south is 110 km. On the north and east there is the 200 km border with the Lithuania, on the south there is the 210 km border with Poland, and on the west the region is limited with the 140-km long Baltic sea coast line.
Population. The population of the region is over 930000 people. The urban population is 4 times as large as that of rural areas and is 80% of the total number of inhabitants. The centre of the region is Kaliningrad city with a population of 423 700 people. Sovietsk, Cherniakhvsk, Gusev, Baltiysk are the largest cities in the region. The ethnical composition of the population is the following: Russians — 78.5%, Belorussians — 8.5%, Ukrainians - 7.2%, Lithuanians — 2.7%. The Kaliningrad Region is one of the most densely populated areas of the Russian Federation with an average of 60 inhabitants per square kilometer.
The distances to European capitals: 350 km to Vilnius, 390 km to Riga, 400 km to Warsaw, 600 km to Berlin, 650 km to Stockholm, 680 km to Copenhagen, 850 km to Oslo.
Natural resources. The world largest reserves of amber (more than 90%), significant low-sulfur (below 0,2%) oil resources, "Extra"-class rock salt, peat, and mineral waters are concentrated in the region's territory. Iron-manganese nodules as well as reserves of "heavy sands", containing titanium and zirconium are discovered at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. Deep underground, in the hinterland, there are reserves of potassium salt, and sulfur minerals and carbonates.
KALININGRAD REGION — THE SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONE
On January 22, 1996 the RF President signed a Law "On the Special Economic Zone in the Kaliningrad Region" stipulating the legislative and economic basis for setting-up and functioning of the Special economic zone.
The Special Economic Zone offers the free customs zone regime. The Law provides for privileges to investors and other entrepreneurs doing business in the region, including external economic activities. About 300 enterprises in the territory of the region export products to more than 70 countries of Europe, Africa, Asia, and to the USA.
About 40% of the total regional external trade turnover is represented by the trade with three countries - Germany, Poland and Lithuania.
The main exported items are: oil, cellulose, fertilizers, non-organic chemical products, fish and other sea products, paper and cardboard, ships and boats.
1266 enterprises with foreign investments, 85 subsidiaries and 20 offices of foreign companies have been registered in the region. Representatives of 51 foreign countries have participated in the setting-up of the enterprises with foreign investments. Among the investors the major ones are Poland, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, Belarus.
The main types of products and services produced by the enterprises with foreign investments are: cellulose, paper and cardboard, furs and fur articles, furniture, clothes and footwear, food stuffs, ship repair services, construction services, sea transport services, hotel services, commercial services, and leisure organisation services.
TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE
The Transport Complex of the Kaliningrad Region is represented by ice-free ports in Kaliningrad, Baitiysk, and Pionersk. The complex consists of the three autonomous transshipment enterprises (two sea ports and one river port) situated in the mouth of the Pregolya river. The 40-km long Kaliningrad sea canal provides for the access of ships to the Kaliningrad sea port. The canal capacity allows the free passage of ships with the maximum displacement of 15 000 tons. Water transport has the highest development priority.
The Commercial Sea Port is used for export of fertilizers, metals, metal scrap, paper, cellulose, timber, and for import of iron and steel, sugar, mineral construction materials, ro-ro cargoes. The existing port capacity allows to handle 8.2 mill. tons/year. The State Fishing Port provides for the export of fertilizers, oil-products, fish products. The potential capacity of this port allows to handle 2.5 mill. tons of cargo per annum.
The river port exports coal and mineral construction materials. Its potential capacity provides for handling over 2 mill. tons/a.
The total length of navigable waterways is 360 km.
The length of common-use motor roads in the Kaliningrad Region is about 4.6 ths. km. All those roads have hard pavement. The density of the road network is nearly 10 times higher than on average in Russia. There is a considerable (50%) reserve of the roads traffic capacity.
The regional railways with 756 km total length play the main role in the transport communications between Kaliningrad and other regions of Russia. The stations in Kaliningrad, Bagrationovsk, Cherniakhovsk, Mamonovo and Zheleznodorozhniy are adequate for handling the freight flow with the use of both Russian and West-European tracks. Regular railway traffic has been established to connect Kaliningrad to Gdynia and - via Gdynia - to Berlin. Regular bus communication connects Kaliningrad with Poland, Germany and Chekhia.
INDUSTRY COMPLEX AND ECONOMY
The region's favourable geographic conditions allowed to create a powerful ocean fishery complex of national importance. Nearly 300 large and medium-size fishing ships are used for fishing and fish-processing in the Atlantic. There are fish-preserving enterprises in Kaliningrad, Svetiiy, Mamonovo and Polessk. The regional machine building complex consists of 31 enterprises most of which are concentrated in Kaliningrad. These enterprises produce ships, railway dump-cars, cranes, load lifters, electric-welding and lighting equipment, main gas pipeline monitoring and automatic control systems, road maintenance and construction vehicles, instruments and equipment for the fishery sector, trade technology and paper manufacturing equipment. Four paper and pulp mills and one paper mill, if used to the maximum of their capacity these enterprises, can produce 11 % of cellulose made in Russia. The existing facilities can provide for an output of 150 000 tons of paper, 30 000tons of cardboard, considerable amounts of industrial ethyl alcohol and consumer goods.
The basis of the electric power supply sector are the heat and power stations firing imported heavy fuel oil and natural gas. The region's own electric power generation makes for 20% of the demand. In 1989, the construction of Kaliningrad TES-2 Combined Heat and Power Station was started. This CHPS is expected to eliminate the power shortage in the region and to provide the heating of Kaliningrad. There is an opportunity for development of small hydraulic power stations and wind energy converters. Meanwhile, the international telecommunication system here is rapidly developing. Thus, the local telex and telephone company provides for worldwide automatic communication with nearly 150 countries. Modern types of telecommunications such as cellular mobile communication systems, paging, USW and AM radio communication systems etc. are paid great attention. The total amount of agricultural lands is as large as 817 000 ha (60% of the total land area), and 92% of the area is meliorated. The local natural conditions — primarily, the long vegetation period and the sufficient precipitation quantity — are favourable for agricultural development in Kaliningrad Region. The yield of the natural fodder fields is the highest in the Russian Federation.
The information is presented by Kaliningrad Trade and Industrial Chamber
