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KAUNAS FREE ECONOMIC ZONE MANUFACTURING AND LOGISTICS OPPORTUNTIES IN LITHUANIA, EUROPE

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Executive summary • A 534 ha Free Economic Zone situated in Kaunas, Lithuania, known as FEZ. • Lithuania is a member of the European Union (EU) as well as a member of the Schengen area. (This permits passport-free travel throughout the 26 countries of the Schengen area). • Stable currency; since 2002, 3.45 Litas = €1. As from 1st January 2015, Euro replaces national currency. • Businesses established within FEZ are totally tax-free for six years; for the next ten years, 50% reduction in the rate of Corporation Tax. As the Lithuanian rate of Corporation Tax at present is 15%, the effective tax rate for the first sixteen years of operation is 4.69%. • Highly educated labour force. • According to the World Bank, Lithuania is the seventeenth country in the world for “ease of doing business”. • Ability to obtain 1, 2, 3 year “temporary residence permits”, depending on individual circumstances. • Ability to obtain Lithuanian citizenship after ten years of residence. • Land is subleased for a term of 99 years. Pursuant to the Land Law of Lithuania, if the sublessee has erected buildings on the land then, after the end of 99 years, the sublease will be extended until the end of the economic life of the buildings erected on the land. The life of the building can be further extended by continued improvements.

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Page 1: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

KAUNAS FREE ECONOMIC ZONE

MANUFACTURING AND LOGISTICS OPPORTUNTIES IN LITHUANIA, EUROPE

Page 2: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

Executive summary •  A 534 ha Free Economic Zone situated in Kaunas, Lithuania, known as FEZ.

•  Lithuania is a member of the European Union (EU) as well as a member of the Schengen area. (This permits passport-free travel throughout the 26 countries of the Schengen area).

•   Stable currency; since 2002, 3.45 Litas = €1. As from 1st January 2015, Euro replaces national currency.

•   Businesses established within FEZ are totally tax-free for six years; for the next ten years, 50% reduction in the rate of Corporation Tax. As the Lithuanian rate of Corporation Tax at present is 15%, the effective tax rate for the first sixteen years of operation is 4.69%.

•   Highly educated labour force.

•  According to the World Bank, Lithuania is the seventeenth country in the world for “ease of doing business”.

•   Ability to obtain 1, 2, 3 year “temporary residence permits”, depending on individual circumstances.

•   Ability to obtain Lithuanian citizenship after ten years of residence.

•  Land is subleased for a term of 99 years. Pursuant to the Land Law of Lithuania, if the sublessee has erected buildings on the land then, after the end of 99 years, the sublease will be extended until the end of the economic life of the buildings erected on the land. The life of the building can be further extended by continued improvements.

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Page 3: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

§  Opportunities in Kaunas Free Economic zone §  Success Stories §  Legal information on permission to live and work §  Financial support

§  Lithuania: Opportunities in European Union

§  Logistics capabilities

§  Manufacturing Capabilities

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Page 4: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

Lithuania: in the Center of Europe

Size: 65,300 km2

Population: ~3 million

Capital: Vilnius

Official language: Lithuanian

(One of the oldest languages in the world, originating from Sanskrit)

Dominant foreign languages:

English, Russian, German, Polish

Currency: Lithuanian Litas (LTL) Pegged to the EUR since 2002 1EUR /3.45 LTL

Real GDP growth1: §  2013E §  2012

§  2011

§  3.1% §  3.7%

§  5.9%

FDI growth, 20121: •  8.1%

From command economy to free market in 20 yrs.

§  12th freest economy in Europe and 22nd freest economy in the World2

§  17th in the ease of doing business3

Source 1: Statistics Lithuania Source 2: Heritage Foundation, Economic Freedom Index, 2013. The index measures ten components of economic freedom, that are grouped in four broad pillars: Rule of Law, Limited Government, Regulatory Efficiency, and Open Markets Source 3: World Bank Doing Business Report, 2012. The index looks at domestic small and medium-size companies and measures the regulations applying to them through their life cycle Source 4: FdiMarkets, 2013

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Page 5: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

§  Opportunities in Kaunas Free Economic zone §  Success Stories §  Legal information on permission to live and work §  Financial support

§  Lithuania: Opportunities in European Union

§  Logistics capabilities

§  Manufacturing Capabilities

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Page 6: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

Engineering Sector Overview §  Strong cluster with around 2,000 entities employing approx.

36,000 employees, out of which ~80% work in mechanical engineering sector

§  Since 2009, production value of Lithuanian engineering companies grew at an average rate of 16.6% per annum, reaching EUR 2.2 billion in 2012

§  Over 70% of engineering production is exported

§  Main export destinations: Germany, Russia, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Poland and other countries

Source: Statistics Lithuania, 2012

30%

20% 13%

12%

9%

6% 6% 4%

Structure of Engineering Industry in Lithuania

Rubber and plastics manufacturing

Fabricated metal products manufacturing

Worldwide customers of engineering companies in Lithuania:

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Page 7: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

Mechanical Engineering Sector Overview

§  1,700 companies with approximately 28,600 people employed in the sector

§  Historic competences: Lithuania produced 11% of metal cutting lathes in the whole Soviet Union

§  Major foreign companies within the industry: Schmitz CargoBull, Kinze Manufacturing, Stansefabrikken, CIE Automotive, KB Components and many others

§  Competencies

Sheet (and tube) forming processes (stamping) Cutting processes (milling, turning) Welding Tool making Assembly Plastic injection molding Painting (powder/spray)

Source 1: Statistics Lithuania Source 2: Eurostat, 2011 Female labour force, as percentage of total labour force (50,29%)

Source 3: Insead, the Global Innovation Index 2012 * EU average: 54% of population speak 1 foreign language, 25% speak 2 foreign languages

27%

10%

8% 8% 4% 2% 2%

39%

Largest subsectors of mechanical engineering

Plastics Machinery and equipment for general use

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Page 8: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

Electronics Sector Overview §  230 electronics companies with over 7,200 people employed

§  Production of electronic, computer and optical products accounted for 21% share of all production of engineering industry in 2012

§  86% of electronics production exported to nearly 100 countries

§  Competencies

Surface mounting of PCB Embedded software Wiring harnesses PCB and electromechanical assembly

•  Products

Communication systems Medical devices Sensors and switches Industrial automation systems

Source 1: Statistics Lithuania Source 2: Eurostat, 2011 Female labour force, as percentage of total labour force (50,29%)

Source 3: Insead, the Global Innovation Index 2012 * EU average: 54% of population speak 1 foreign language, 25% speak 2 foreign languages

21%

15%

14% 10% 9%

8%

23%

Largest subsectors of electronics

Electric motors, generators, transformers

Domestic appliances

Communication equipment

Consumer electronics

Wiring and wiring devices

Electric lightling equipment

Other

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Page 9: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

Talent Pool Supply

Why Invest in Lithuania?

The Most Educated Labor Pool in the EU:

§  Labor pool size: 1.5 million1

§  16% employed in manufacturing industries

§  8 universities and 14 colleges provide engineering programs

§  Lithuania ranks 1st in the EU for the number of mathematics, science and technology graduates per 1 000 of population aged 20-293

§  16,000 students currently studying engineering at universities and colleges and 10,000 students at vocational training in the field

§  7700** engineering graduates annually

§  Languages spoken: Russian (80% ), English (38%), Polish (19%), German (14%)3

Source 1: Statistics Lithuania, 2012 Source: 2 Ministry of Education, 2012-2013 Source 3: Eurostat, 2011 Source 4: European Commission * EU average: 54% of population speak 1 foreign language, 25% speak 2 foreign languages

**Includes vocational training graduates (3700)

20%

18%

11% 11%

10%

7%

23%

Employment in manufacturing sector1

Food industry

Engineering industry

Furniture industry

Wearing apparel industry

Wood industry

Tobacco and refined petroleum industry Other

26%

21%

12%

11%

9%

8%

13% Engineering Students at Universities and Colleges2

Electronics and automatics

Electricity and energy

Transport engineering

Mechanic engineering

Automechanics

IT engineering

Other

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Page 10: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

Highly Educated Talent Pool §  160,000 students at 47 universities and colleges

_ 42,000 graduates per year

§  >44,000 students at 75 vocational schools1

_ 7,000 graduates per year

International rankings:

§  1st in the EU: 93% of population have secondary or higher education2

§  5th in the EU : 77% of population aged 20-24 are enrolled in tertiary education3

§  2nd in the EU: 47% of population aged 24-29 have a university degree2

Source 1: Statistics Lithuania Source 2: Eurostat, 2012. Source 3: Global Competitiveness Index 2012-2013 (ratio of total tertiary enrollment, regardless of age, to the population of the age group that officially corresponds to the tertiary education level)

Universities and colleges in Lithuania, 2013

35%

24% 11%

9%

8% 8% 5%

Students at Universities and Colleges, 2012-2013

Business Administration / Social and Behavioral Sciences Technical and Physical Sciences Biomedical Sciences Law Humanitary Sciences and Arts Teacher training and pedagogy Other Social Sciences

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Page 11: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

Availability of Multilingual Employees

Source 1: European Commission, “Europeans and their Languages”, 2012 Source 2: Population census, 2011, Statistics Lithuania

92%

52% 54%

25%

0%

50%

100%

At least one foreign language

At least two foreign languages

Foreign Language Knowledge1

Lithuania EU average

International rankings1:

§  5th in EU for population speaking at least 1 foreign language

§  7th in EU for population speaking at least 2 foreign languages

Languages’ learning becomes more popular especially among young people:

§  70% of youth aged 25-34 speak English2

§  Slavic languages popular due to historic aspects and neighboring countries

§  Increase in Nordic languages speakers: special language learning programmes offered for youth

Language No. of people speaking the language2

English 1 million

Russian 2 million

German 250,000

Polish 260,000

Romanic languages* 85,000

Nordic languages** 7,400

* French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Moldavian ** Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Finnish 11

Page 12: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

Labor Productivity in the Sector

•  Lithuania experienced fastest labor productivity growth in EU over 2005-2012

•  Labor productivity growth in engineering industries exceeds average labor productivity growth in entire economy

•  Fastest growth in labor productivity:

•  4 times in computer and electronics

•  2 times in machinery and equipment

•  1.5 times in base metals and metal products

Source 1: Statistics Lithuania

132 125 125 125

119 118 113 111

107 106 104 104 102 102 102 101 99 96

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Real labor productivity per person employed: Index, 2005=100, 20121

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Page 13: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

Cost-Effective Business Development Location Why Invest in Lithuania?

§  Labor costs are more than 4 times lower than the EU average1

§  The two biggest Lithuanian cities - Vilnius and Kaunas, are among TOP10 cities in Europe for cost effectiveness

§  Real gross wages decreased by 0.4% in 20122

§  A slight increase in real wages expected in 2013 and in 2014 by 1.4% and 2.6% respectively3

Average Monthly Gross Wages (EUR), 20121

Source 1: National departments of Statistics, January 2013 Source 2: Statistics Lithuania Source 3: UniCredit Bank Source 4: Grafton Recruitment

3391 3204

1526

1047 998 880 842 805 769 690 619 479 392

Wages in the Production Industry in 20134

Position in the Production Industry

Experience + language

Average Yearly Gross

Salary, EUR

Production manager 250 FTE 36,000

Quality Manager 5+ yrs 27,600

Quality Engineer 3+ yrs 19,200

Logistic Manager 5+ yrs 24,000

Logistic Specialist 3+ yrs 14,400

Purchasing Manager 5+ yrs 22,800

Buyer 3+ yrs 14,400

Shift Leader 3+ yrs 12,000

Skilled operator (CNC or other) 3+ yrs 10,200

Unskilled operator 0-1 yrs 7,200

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Page 14: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

Easy Access Eastern & Western Markets Why Lithuania?

Advanced Logistics:

§  Logistics accounts for 10.6% of GDP1

§  25,000 truck fleet:

_  75% comply with Euro-3/4/5 exhaust emission requirements

_  International road transit accounts for 90% of total road transit

§  > 810,000 m2 of logistics and warehousing facilities

§  2-3 hour flights to major European cities and Moscow through 4 International Airports

§  Shuttle cargo services: direct railroads to Russia, Belarus, Latvia, Poland, Germany, Ukraine and Asia (incl. China)

§  Klaipeda State Seaport - the northern-most ice-free port in the Baltic Sea

Reliable and High-Quality Infrastructure:

§  NATO’s Northern Distribution Network: 3,100-miles of sea, road, and rail routes connect Klaipeda (Lithuania) with central Asia

Truck Delivery Times

Source 1: Statistics Lithuania, 2012

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Page 15: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

§  Opportunities in Kaunas Free Economic zone §  Success Stories §  Legal information on permission to live and work §  Financial support

§  Lithuania: Opportunities in European Union

§  Logistics capabilities

§  Manufacturing Capabilities

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Page 16: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

Kaunas FEZ Connectivity to International Seaport Why Lithuania?

•  Deep-water port with a capacity to accept ships of up to 1034 feet length and 43 feet draught is 2 hours away by road from the zone

•  Seaport operates approximately 19 miles of quayside and 59 miles of railway

•  30 specialized cargo terminals

•  Seaport capacities enable the handling of 50 million tons cargo

•  Annual cargo turnover in 2012 – 35.2 million. Tons

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Page 17: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

Kaunas FEZ Connectivity with China by Railways Why Lithuania?

•  11065 km route

•  13 days travel distance

•  Operational from 2011

•  Combination of 40’, 60‘, and 80’ railway, platforms

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Page 18: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

Kaunas FEZ Connectivity inside of European Union, CEE and CIS countries by Railways

Why Lithuania?

•  Baltic-Adriatic: includes the •  Semmering base tunnel and

Koralmbahn.

•  North Sea-Baltic: the most important element of this corridor is Rail Baltica.

•  Rail Baltica connects Kaunas with remaining part EU , CEE and CIS countries.

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Page 19: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

Kaunas FEZ Connectivity inside of European Union and former Soviet Union Countries by Road Transport corridors

Why Lithuania?

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Page 20: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

Trading from LT with other EU countries •  Lithuania is part of EU which forbids any and all trade

restrictions among EU member states.

•  Lithuania is also member of Schengen Area

•  The Schengen Area is the area comprising 26 European countries that have abolished passport or any other type of border control in-between their common borders, also referred to as internal borders. It functions as a single country for international travel purposes, with a common visa policy

•  The Schengen area encourages the free movement of goods, information, money and people.

Company in FEZ Regular EU company located in Lithuania

Profit tax 0% first 6 year/ 7,5% next 10 years 15 % (one of the smallest in EU)

Restriction related to sales of goods or provision of services to other EU members

No restrictions No restrictions

Restrictions related to import/export

No restrictions No restrictions

Real estate tax No real estate tax 0,3 – 3 %

Tax on dividends No tax on dividends Up to 21 % 21

Page 21: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

§  Opportunities in Kaunas Free Economic zone §  Success Stories §  Legal information on permission to live and work §  Financial support

§  Lithuania: Opportunities in European Union

§  Logistics capabilities

§  Manufacturing Capabilities

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Page 22: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

Business-Friendly Environment in Kaunas Free Economic Zone

Tax Rates Lithuania

Tax Rates Kaunas FEZ

Corporate profit tax 15% 0%

VAT 21% 21%

Dividends* Up to 15% 0%

Personal income tax 15% 15%

Employee’s social security tax

9% 9%

Social security tax paid by the employer Up to 31.18% Up to 31.18 %

Real estate tax Up to 3% 0%

Source 1: PricewaterhouseCoopers Source 2: KPMG, Deloitte, 2012 Source 3: AmiCorp, “Lithuanian Company as Intellectual Property Holding”, January 2012

Tax Rate Snapshot1,2

Incentives for Investment into New Technologies and R&D3:

§  R&D and experimental expansion expenses can be deducted on basis of 300% of the actual expenditure.

§  very short depreciation periods and fast depreciation methods for equipment used for R&D activities

Incentives for Foreign Businesses Investing in:

§  production of export-oriented high-quality services/products/R&D activities

§  creation of new qualified jobs

§  personnel training/retraining (support covers up to 60% (up to EUR 2,600 per person) and corporate social responsibility opportunities)

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Page 23: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

Industries the Kaunas FEZ is particularly suited for Industry Kaunas advantages

Electronics •  Sector has been developed during soviet times, thus talent pool is available. •  There are some strong foreign capital companies providing EMS services to various clients in

Western Europe and Scandinavia •  FEZ has operational companies in FEZ

Mechanical engineering and mechatronics

•  FDI trends show that manufacturing projects seek implantation primarily in Central and Eastern European countries, i.e. including Lithuania

•  Highly educated workforce available and low labor cost

Textile •  FDI in the textile sector is four times as high as the national average •  Lots of talent pool available as textile was historically popular industry. •  Chinese company Featherland opened factory in Kaunas region.

Food Industry •  The food sector produces a major share of the total value created by Lithuanian producers. The most developed food processing subsectors are milk, meat and grain processing. Other well-established sectors are brewing, fish processing, canned vegetables, fruits and confectionery.

•  FEZ has already managed to attract few companies related to processing of milk and fish (including storage and distribution)

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Page 24: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

Industries the Kaunas FEZ is particularly suited for

Industry Kaunas advantage

Logistics warehousing •  Both Western and Central and Eastern Europe attract quite some FDI in the logistics sector. The Kaunas region offers good opportunities for logistics companies, especially also in conjunction with manufacturing.

•  Manufacturing is based on efficient logistics, thus there is always demand from manufacturing companies.

•  FEZ has already companies working in the area. •  FEZ Shares border with big cargo airport •  FEZ is located on the crossroad connecting EU with Russia/Ukraine/Bellorussia and parts of

Northern Europe (Sweden, Finland)

Pharmaceuticals •  Operational companies in FEZ •  Outside EU companies looking for opportunities in entering EU markets (from Russia/Ukraine)

Aviation: maintenance, repair, and operations

•  Huge international airport that can accept any size of planes •  Local and international companies are rapidly expanding in the airport providing MRO

services, (an existing companies: Avia Solution group; FL Technics and others). •  University trainings available for mechanics •  Plane road (taxi way) connecting airport to FEZ is under implementation

Furniture •  Historical industry •  Very popular industry in Lithuania, 80 percent of production is exported

Hotel & office development

•  Starting from 2012 demand exceeds supply. No Grade A offices – huge opportunity as demand for shared services business grows.

•  Nearby airport is missing hotel infrastructure

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Page 25: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

The whole area of the FEZ 534 ha divided in 3 projects.

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Page 26: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

Kaunas FEZ Manufacturing and Logistics Area

•  The most actively developed FEZ area.

•  A major part of the area has already been prepared and it is used for “Greenfield” investments.

•  Total of 18 companies working at Manufacturing and Logistics Area.

•  4 new factor ies in course of construction. (March 2014)

• Land plots with the infrastructure; lease for 99 years

Yearly maintenance fee € 950;

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Page 27: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

Kaunas FEZ Airpark

• Area 240 ha;

• Direct access to Kaunas International Airport

• 3250 m runway with no restrictions on MTOW

• Aviation cluster formation (DOT, AST, Ryanair and other)

• Land plots with the infrastructure; lease for 99 years

Yearly maintenance fee € 950;

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Page 28: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

Kaunas FEZ Business Street

• The Business Street is an aggregation of future buildings at Road A6, connecting Kaunas with major Cities.

• Offering a choice of 13 land plots for offices and hotels.

• Land plots with the infrastructure; lease for 99 years

Yearly maintenance fee € 950;

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Page 29: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

Kruonis technology park is part of FEZ 30 km away from KFEZ Special zone to develop large data center projects and other IT projects linked to data centers.

§  75 ha in size

§  3X330 kV and 6X110 kV lines provide superior reliability of electricity supply.

§  Next to 900 MW hydro pump storage power plant.

§  Nearby lagoon and artificial lakes for unlimited cooling needs.

§  Located on crossroad of optical networks connecting site with CEE, Western Europe, Scandinavia, and Russia to reach Asia.

§  Reduced profit tax and no real estate tax.

§  Special electricity price in order to compete with any neighboring region.

Optical connectivity map to various parts of Europe

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Page 30: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

§  Opportunities in Kaunas Free Economic zone §  Success Stories §  Legal information on permission to live and work §  Financial support

§  Lithuania: Opportunities in European Union

§  Logistics capabilities

§  Manufacturing Capabilities

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Page 31: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

Finnfoam Case Studies in Kaunas FEZ

§  The company has moved a bulk of its manufacturing operations of the thermal insulation boards to Lithuania in 2008.

§  Invested more then 30 million EUR. §  The production capacity of the production facility

is approximately 700,000 m3 annually, which is over twice as much as the Finnish market.

§  Finnfoam Oy is Finland's largest domestically owned thermal insulation manufacturer. We also use domestic industry profesionnals in product development work. These include the Tampere University of Technology and VTT Technical Research Centre.

Corporate profile Finnfoam is a diverse and reliable thermal insulation, which maintains its insulation characteristics even in demanding conditions. The product's design, manufacturing and marketing is handled by Finnfoam Oy, a Finnish family-owned company established in 1982.  

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Page 32: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

ELINTA Case Studies in Kaunas FEZ

§  The company has moved of its engineering and manufacturing operations to Kaunas Free Economic Zone in 2007.

§   Elinta Assembly department operates in the field

of production and technological process automation.

•  The main activities in the automation field: •  water supply and cleaning (drinking water supply,

waste water cleaning, sludge incineration); •  waste utilization; •  PET bottle production lines; •  grain drying towers; •  sugar production; •  production of artificial fertilizers; •  bio fuel production; •  conveyer production and other production

processes.

Corporate profile  Elinta Assembly department operates in the field of production and technological process automation. Products of this department include various manufacturing and processcontrol systems and even more sophisticated part of these systems, which includes control, based on programm controllers and computers, process visualization, and human-machine interfaces.  

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Page 33: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

Aconitum Case Studies in Kaunas FEZ

§  Established at Kaunas Free Economic Zone on 2008, Leading company of pharmaceutical and nutraceutical manufacturing in Lithuania

§  Produces and introduces to market more than 5 new products each year.

§  Dedicates up to 70% of profit to modernise manufacturing facility and laboratory.

§  The company is having renewable energy ("green energy") supply system  installed.

§  Has HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) system installed in manufacturing facility.

Corporate profile Aconitum is a  leading company of pharmaceutical and nutraceutical manufacturing in Lithuania. With more then 10 years of experience. Has product range of more than 70 products. Won “Lithuanian Product of The Year” award three times (2013;2012;2011).

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Page 34: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

FORTUM Case Studies in Kaunas FEZ

§  In 2011, Kaunas Free Economic Zone (FEZ) generated a record result: the attracted investments amounted to EUR238 million. This represents the highest investment value over the whole history of Kaunas FEZ.

§  The Kaunas FEZ Management Company signed agreements with Fortum Heat Lietuva, a Finnish-owned company, which will invest EUR 200 million to construct a combined and heat power plant; and with Company Enwipellets, which is planning to invest EUR 38 million in the construction of a straw pellet plant.

Corporate profile Fortum Oyj is a Fiinnish energy company, which focuses on the Nordic and Baltic countries, Poland and Russia. The head of the company is Tapio Kuula, President and CEO. Fortum operates and maintains power plants and provides other energy related services. The company's main product is the production and distribution of electricity, heat and steam. 

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Page 35: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

§  Opportunities in Kaunas Free Economic zone §  Success Stories §  Legal information on permission to live and work §  Financial support

§  Lithuania: Opportunities in European Union

§  Logistics capabilities

§  Manufacturing Capabilities

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Page 36: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

Permission to live/work – for business owners and CEOs

Current Legislation

•  A temporary residency permit (valid 1 year) will be issued to a business owner who has invested at least €15,000 into a company registered in Lithuania

•  A temporary residency permit (valid 1 year) will be issued to a director of a company registered in Lithuania

•  iFamily members of business owners must apply separately

•  Permit issue time ±2.5 months

•  Highly skilled professionals who have a Masters or equivalent university degree, possess skills which are in shortage in the Lithuanian market and are remunerated accordingly (i.e. minimum €3000/month) can obtain an EU Blue Card. These are valid for 1 year and automatically cover family dependents.

•  Process takes around 2.5 months.

•  All of the above permits are renewable if the business activity or employment continues.

New legislation expected to be approved in spring 2014 and coming into effect on January 1st, 2015

•   Foreigners who invest at least €29,000 into a company which employs at least 3 Lithuanian employees - or becomes a director of an already existing company with a similar investment and at least 3 employees - will be able to obtain a temporary residence permit, at first valid for 1 year but renewable for a further 2 years.

•   Foreigners who invest at least €260,000 into a company which employs at least 5 Lithuanian employees, will be able issued a temporary residence permit valid for 3 years. Immediate family members of the investor also become entitled to a temporary residence permit, valid for 3 years.

•   In the first year following entry into Lithuania, the investing foreigner will be issued a Schengen visa for up to 1 year. After 6 months of company operation, the investor may apply for a temporary residence permit and/or EU Blue Cards for his highly skilled employees.

•   Highly skilled professions who have a Masters or equivalent university degree, whose skills are in shortage in the Lithuanian labou5r market and who are employed at an average salary of €1350/month will be able to obtain an EU Blue Card valid for 2 years.

•  The application procedure will take 2½ months.

•  If the applicant is paid a salary of at least €2000/month, the application procedure can be shortened to 15 days.

•  All of the above permits are renewable if the business activity or employment continues.

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Page 37: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

Permission to live/work – for high skilled employees

Current legislation

A temporary residency and work permit (EU Blue Card, valid 1 year) may be issued for a highly skilled professional who has a higher education degree, whose skills are in shortage in Lithuanian labor market, and who is contracted for more than double the national average gross monthly salary (currently 11300 CNY (1350 EUR).

Family members can accompany blue card owner

Process takes around 2,5 months.

Government actively improves conditions to investors. New legislation will be approved in spring 2014 and come into effect on JAN 1st, 2015

•  A temporary residency and work permit (EU Blue Card, valid 2 years) may be issued for a highly skilled professional who has a higher education degree, whose skills are in shortage in Lithuanian labor market, and who is employe at the salary level that is two times more then national average gross monthly salary (currently 11300 CNY ~1350 EUR). The complete procedure for this foreigner may take up to 2.5 months.

•  A temporary residency and work permit (EU Blue Card, valid 2 years) may be issued for a highly skilled professional who has a higher education degree, whose skills are in shortage in Lithuanian labor market, and who is contracted for more than triple the national average gross monthly salary (currently 16 702 CNY (2000 EUR). The complete procedure for this foreigner may take up to 15 days.

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Page 38: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

Permission to live/work – permanent residence or citizenship

After 5 years of residence in Lithuania, a third country national may apply for a permanent resident permit.

After 10 years of residence in Lithuania, a third country national may apply for a citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania.

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Page 39: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

§  Opportunities in Kaunas Free Economic zone §  Success Stories §  Legal information on permission to live and work §  Financial support

§  Lithuania: Opportunities in European Union

§  Logistics capabilities

§  Manufacturing Capabilities

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Page 40: Kaunas Free Economic Zone

Financial support programs applicable to Chinese Investors •  107 billion CNY (12,88 billion EUR) European Union Structural support was approved

for Lithuania for the period of 2014-2020.

•  18 percent of this entire support will be directly dedicated to the local and international business entities operating in Lithuania.

•  The main focus distributing the support will be to increase competitiveness of the entities that are entitled to receive the support.

•  All the EU support will be distributed by the approved 12 priorities:

•  Encouragement of scientific research, development and innovations" companies will be entitled to 6,7 billion CNY ( 0,8 billion EUR) support;

•  "Encouragement of competitiveness of small and midle size entities" companies of this scale will be granted 5,2 billion EUR ( 0,625 billion EUR).

•  Chinese companies interested in receiving EU structural support financing, must submit an application to the LT Business Support Agency (LVPA). The application should be supported by a sound Business Plan. LVPA will evaluate each application and approve the support on a competitive basis

•  FEZ can recommend companies that will help to administer all needed documentation to receive financial support

•  Support intensity according to previous years was around 10 to 50 percent of the total investments

Logo of LT business support agency

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