One of the main growth objectives of Ventspils city is to develop industrial activity, therefore Ventspils City Council and Ventspils Free Port Authority support and encourage industry’s development, and in collaboration with Ventspils High Technology Park invites business entities to create their companies in Ventspils.

The total area of Ventspils is 5536.7 ha, out of which 2643.6 ha (47.7%) is building, but the rest of the territory is water (13.1%) and green area (24.9%). In the beginning of 1997 the free economic zone (Ventspils Free Port) was founded in Ventspils and it covers 2451.39 ha or 44.28% of the total area of the city. More than 1000 ha of this area are still available for industrial activity.

There are approximately 43.3 thousand permanent residents in Ventspils. The ethnic structure is similar to the national situation: 54% of population are Latvians, 30% - Russians, 5% - Belarusians, 5% - Ukrainians, and 6% - other ethnicities. 

Currently, the city experiences significant changes. The old city of Ventspils is being renovated, the green areas of the city are constantly maintained in a good condition, and the pavements are replaced and renovated. The local authority takes special care to maintain the environment in the city in a good condition and to improve the quality of life of Ventspils inhabitants.

Approximately 1000 companies or their branch offices carry out activity in Ventspils. Business activity in Ventspils on average creates a 3.2% of national GDP, and thus the city can be considered as one of the major centres of national economy in Latvia. GDP per capita in Ventspils is the second highest in Latvia, and it is 1.7 times greater than the average level in country.

Ventspils Free Port has received a status of special economic zone. Companies, which start their activity in this zone, are offered several activities that favour the business, including up to 80% relief on real estate tax and enterprise income tax, as well as considerable reliefs on value added tax, excise duty and customs duty.

Video material of Ventspils port Part 1
Video material of Ventspils port Part 2

Ventspils University College offers studies in bachelor, master and doctoral study programmes, thus preparing highly qualified specialists in such fields as marketing, logistics, finance, accounting, information technology, electronics and translation. In Ventspils there is also a branch office of Riga Technical University, and Ventspils Vocational Secondary School.

The role of tourism, production, culture and education constantly increases in the economic activity of the city. The favourable location of Ventspils, which makes the city a centre for international carriages, combined with determined activity of local authority and institutions of higher education provide the best prospect for future development of manufacturing industry and production in the city.