Belarus invites China to consider multilateral co-operation across several projects — including those dealing with transportation, trade and logistics
The proposal has been put forward by the Belarusian Prime Minister, Mikhail Myasnikovich at his meeting the First Deputy Minister of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China and Co-chair of the Belarus-China Commission for Trade and Economic Co-operation, Zhong Shan, in Minsk. “Our Government and partners from Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Mongolia have already discussed possible logistical schemes that could facilitate China’s co-operation with European countries, including Western Europe,” Mr. Myasnikovich said. In addition, he deems it necessary to discuss the implementation of Chinese-Belarusian-Russian joint projects, “We maintain close ties with the Russian Federation. Industry dominates our bilateral liaisons and, therefore, we could consider Belarus’ participation in Chinese-Russian projects.”The PM noted that Belarus highly appreciates existing Chinese-Belarusian co-operation and views it as successful and dynamic. The partners have already started implementing agreements reached on the high and highest levels. However, Mr. Myasnikovich believes that our two countries could have achieved even more if economic operators, the companies and banks of Belarus and China, established closer ties. In his words, we jointly implemented about 20 projects, with the total cost of approximately $5.5bn.
Meanwhile, the Belarusian side has raised the topic of opening a new credit line. “We have virtually started the realisation of major systemic projects. These primarily include the Chinese-Belarusian Industrial Park and the construction of a factory to produce BelGee cars,” the PM noted. With this in mind, Mr. Myasnikovich believes the partners need to harmonise new approaches to co-operation. Belarus has already considered the operation of Chinese banks in Belarus and projects in trade, transportation and logistics are also on the agenda.
