OREANDA-NEWS. On September 18-19, 2015 the Bratsk Mill's 50th Anniversary Celebration took place in Bratsk. The event was attended by honorary guests, including Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Sergey Neverov, Head of the Irkutsk Region Sergey Eroschenko, Bratsk Mayor Sergey Serebrennikov, Ilim Group Chairman Zakhar Smushkin, Ilim CEO Franz Marx, government officials, partners, customers, and former Bratsk Mill and Ilim management.

The guests took part in the inauguration of a new training center and of the monument to Mikhail Olontsev, first director of the Bratsk Mill.

To commemorate the Bratsk Mill's 50th anniversary, Ilim Group made a gift to the local community: Ilim Sports Arena, an indoor ice rink for winter and summer skating, was opened in place of the former ice hockey rink in Snezhnaya street. Construction of the facility worth over RUB 15 mln was sponsored by Ilim Group as part of its Amateur Sport Support Program in Bratsk.

Festivities organized by Ilim Group for the local community took place in Bratsk main square, including an exposition of cutting edge logging machinery in the morning followed by an evening concert featuring Neschastny Sluchai rock band, Aleksandr F. Sklyar, Yulia Savicheva, and Grigory Leps.

“The Bratsk Mill is a unique facility built in the Siberian taiga 50 years ago by the efforts of thousands of people, and marking a whole new era not only in the history of Bratsk but of entire Russia,” commented Ilim CEO Franz Marx in his speech. “The Bratsk Mill is not so much about the scale and performance records as it is about people, real professionals, and entire families and generations of dedicated talents who are passionate about their work. Half a century of the Mills operations laid the foundation for achieving stretch goals.Today, our goal is to become one of the best pulp and paper companies in the world, and I am absolutely confident that Bratsk is equal to the task."