Business news

MINSK, 17 April (BelTA) – Belarus is determined to bolster trade with China, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said as he met with Chinese Deputy Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan on 17 April, BelTA has learned.

The head of state remarked that the program of developing all-round strategic partnership designed to run until 2018 is the main cooperation document for Belarus and the People’s Republic of China. “Trade and economic relations are the main priority. We are determined to boost our trade turnover and, first of all, to raise the export to China,” Alexander Lukashenko said.

The President noted that the contacts have been increasingly vibrant in the past several years and especially months. For instance, the First Vice Premier of the State Council of China and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China have recently visited Belarus. Belarusian officials have also made a number of trips to China. “Our country views China as a reliable partner. The development of relations with this country was and still is a strategic priority of Belarus’ foreign policy,” Alexander Lukashenko emphasized.

The Belarusian leader said that Belarus and China have a high level of credit and investment cooperation. “But today it is very important to shift from this credit cooperation to investment cooperation,” the President believes. As an example, Alexander Lukashenko mentioned two high-profile investment projects to produce automobiles jointly with the Chinese company Geely and to build the Chinese-Belarusian Industrial Park.