By Igor Slavinsky
The Great Wall Industry Corporation is among the largest Chinese state-owned companies, employing over 100,000 people. It makes satellites and renders services for their launch, while building ground control complexes. Alongside manufacturing space industry products, the company has recently become involved in alternative energy sources, petro-chemistry and electronics — aiming to diversify its production.
“We are well aware of the operation of your company and the ambitious projects that you have been implementing since 1980. We’re interested in co-operation,” Alexander Lukashenko told his guests. “We already have projects upon which we have agreed collaboration; these are worth millions of Dollars in the field of high technologies.” As the Presidential Press Service explains, Chinese specialists take part in creating the national system of satellite communication and broadcasting.
The President also assured the Chinese that he is ready to study any proposals regarding Great Wall’s activity in Belarus. He is also ready to propose a range of projects to the Chinese, for joint realisation, on mutually beneficial terms.
Chinese business is coming to Belarus en mass, supplying a wide range of consumer products (as seen worldwide). Our bilateral turnover reached $2.3bn last year but, importantly, Chinese investments are also arriving in Belarus. Among the most successful examples of co-operation are the production of white goods at Horizont, the reconstruction of Minsk’s heat and power stations and the construction of cement plants. Beijing has also opened a $15bn credit line to Minsk, to be used to pay for Chinese equipment and services.
China is competitive on the global technologies market. It began by producing ‘Great Wall’ canned stewed meat but is now mastering the cosmos, being among the top three cosmic states worldwide. Its expenditure on defence and space technologies is growing faster than its GDP. Experts admit that China is now ahead of Russia in many spheres.
Yin Liming, the President of China Great Wall Industry Corporation, notes, “We have great hopes for starting co-operation with Belarus in the field of satellite communication, remote Earth sensing and other high-tech areas — in order to advance our bilateral interaction.”
