The Mayor of Vilnius Collects a Prestigious FDI Award in Cannes

The Mayor of Vilnius Remigijus Šimašius today arrived in Cannes (France) to attend the annual international real estate show MIPIM. At the top of his agenda is the promotion of Vilnius as a rising hub for foreign investment, and he will be meeting with a number of important investors and participating in discussions to further this aim. On the first day of the visit the Mayor also attended the ceremony of the European cities of the future award hosted by fDI Intelligence, the world’s largest direct foreign investment analysis centre operating as a part of the prestigious publication Financial Times Group.

In the key areas of economic development and attractiveness for foreign direct investment, Vilnius secured third place in the mid-sized European cities’ category behind only Edinburgh and Zurich. Five major factors were taken into account when compiling the ranking: economic potential, business environment, human capital and the quality of life, cost effectiveness and communication. The city’s successful strategy for attracting foreign direct investment, meanwhile, was also given special merit.

“The award is clear evidence that within the past 12 years Vilnius has developed from a promising Eastern European city into the fastest growing European capital, and a city of the future that can be ranked next to Zurich and Edinburgh. Our next step is to grow and reach the league of large cities with a population over 750,000. Vilnius is heading toward an excellent future,” predicts Remigijus Šimašius, Mayor of Vilnius.

At the MIPIM 2016 show the Mayor of Vilnius presented a number of substantial investment opportunities to foreign investors: the Multifunctional sport, culture and education facility (EUR 79 m), Liepkalnis sport and wellness centre (EUR 10 m), Vilnius Tech Park and other investment projects. The plan is to fast-track a number of these projects from concept to reality in the next few years.

In the Baltic Sea region Vilnius is the second youngest city after Copenhagen. During the 2016 MIPIM, the Mayor talked of the importance that visibility and the clear presentation of the city’s strategy for attracting investment will play in successfully securing continued growth for the capital. Vilnius is open for developing service centres, start-ups, high-class offices, cutting-edge technologies, and conference tourism; moreover, the city is easily accessible and acts as an attractive lure for the Baltic’s most promising professionals.

“Currently Vilnius is the fastest growing city for the millennial generation. The residents of Vilnius are hard-working, talented in technologies, and the majority speak at least two foreign languages. A variety of different businesses are growing in Vilnius at an impressive pace – within the past two years the IT sector has demonstrated a growth of 30 %, increasing the number of its employees by 25 %. The service centres in Vilnius are developing fast and are looking for several hundreds of new employees. All of this justifies the introduction of Vilnius to foreign investors as a city of exceptional growth,” is the Mayor’s confident assertion.

In his visit to what is the largest convention of real estate companies and cities, Remigijus Šimašius, is accompanied by Antanas Guoga, the recently appointed public adviser to the Mayor who will help to attract investment. At the event Antanas Guoga, a member of the European Parliament, will meet real estate companies and introduce strategic real estate objects in Vilnius and the advantages of Vilnius and Lithuania.