Business news

VITEBSK, 12 May (BelTA) – Creating joint ventures will raise the Belarusian-Chinese cooperation to a higher quality level, Konstantin Chernyi, deputy chairman of the economy committee of Vitebsk Oblast Executive Committee, told reporters, BelTA has learned.

"We have been cooperating with China for a long time. An agreement with the Heilongjiang province was signed back in 2006. Our delegation went to China four times. We hosted Chinese delegations about the same number of times. But so far the cooperation has been limited to the exchange of information and art groups. The real economy was not involved,” Konstantin Chernyi said. According to him, the visit of the Chinese delegation to Vitebsk can be a good starting point for establishing contacts and further cooperation in economy.

He added that in cooperation the Chinese partners place an emphasis on loans. We are building the Vitebsk HPP on such terms; have already finished the construction of the Lukoml district power station. Indeed, they loaned us money for projects. But we need to give it back," said Konstantin Chernyi, stressing that now Belarus is focusing more on the joint work.

According to him, the first step towards the establishment of joint ventures is the demonstration of capabilities, and getting familiar with business proposals by Belarusian, Vitebsk in particular, enterprises. "For the time being there is some distrust on the part of China. They know little about our potential," said Konstantin Chernyi. He believes that the visit to Vitebsk will give the partners the opportunity to see the enterprises, to hear their suggestions and explore the region in general.

Areas of cooperation can be very different. "China is one of the leading manufacturers of footwear but they have little knowledge of the European standards, rules, technical regulations, which are now being introduced. We have it all. This is a good area for mutually beneficial cooperation,” he said, noting that joint projects in pharmaceuticals and veterinary medicine may be as promising and successful.

On 12 May the official and business delegation of Heilongjiang Province is in Vitebsk on a visit. The guests got acquainted with the investment projects of the regional center and the Free Economic Zone Vitebsk. The Chinese guests will also go sightseeing around the city.