Business news

MINSK, 12 January (BelTA) – Chinese companies are showing interest in investing in the Belarusian agricultural sector, Belarus’ Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei said in an interview to Xinhua news agency, BelTA informs.

“We need to develop cooperation between various enterprises more actively. Last year we completed all the procedures related to the export of Belarusian beef to China. We have almost completed the certification procedure for a number of our dairy enterprises that will supply products to China. The procedure for obtaining a certificate for the export of poultry meat to China is in its final stage. All the projects are very important,” the minister said.

In his words, some Chinese companies have expressed interest and have already taken concrete steps to invest in the agricultural sector of Belarus, keeping in mind the subsequent export of agricultural products to China. “It is important for us to move away from simple trade and exchange of goods to cooperation in the credit and investment sector. We have a clear understanding of how to move forward. I am confident that we will achieve even greater successes in bilateral cooperation in the near future,” Vladimir Makei said.

The minister also spoke in favor of more active development of regional cooperation. “Each Chinese province, in fact, is comparable with average and even large European states in its potential. We pay a very close attention to this aspect, which is the development of interregional cooperation. As for the number of mutual visits, the cooperation with China has already reached the level of our cooperation with Russia, which is our neighbor and most important political, trade and economic partner. This fact speaks for itself,” he said.

When asked about the additional efforts that China and Belarus need to take to raise the bilateral relations to a new level, Vladimir Makei stressed that such efforts should be applied on a daily basis. “From our point of view, it is necessary to continue maintaining a high level of political dialogue between the countries. The relationships between the two leaders are very important as they serve as an example for the entire public administration systems of the two states. We need to continue supporting the high level of political dialogue that exists between our states, not only between the leaders of the two states, not only between different ministries and departments, but also between business communities, in the humanitarian sector, between students and tourists,” the minister said.