Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 6 March (BelTA) – Belarus-China projects are in progress, yielding results, Chairman of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus Vladimir Andreichenko said as he met with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of China to Belarus Cui Qiming, BelTA has learned.

The most important thing is that all the projects have a practical impact. Belarus made sure that the geographically remote China is sometimes closer to Belarus than the neighboring countries. Moreover, Belarus would like China to remain its priority strategic partner for a long time. Members of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus will contribute to this.

Vladimir Andreichenko thanked the Ambassador and the Chinese diplomatic mission for the great attention to the development of inter-parliamentary cooperation. “This is an important part of our interstate relations," said the Speaker. The Chairman of the House of Representatives praised the hospitality during his visit to China in 2009. "Back then we had meetings at the highest level. We met many members of the politburo,” said Vladimir Andreichenko. He added that the visit of Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Wu Bangguo to Belarus in 2011 was also very productive. The parties discussed many issues of cooperation in international parliamentary organizations, in the humanitarian field, in economy. "We identified a number of projects, signed a number of documents, including on the Chinese-Belarusian industrial park and the construction of the Beijing Hotel,” said Vladimir Andreichenko. During the visit of the Belarusian MPs to China the facilities to assemble Belarusian equipment were opened.

With regard to the bilateral trade, it is more than $3 billion. "These numbers are very good but there still remain many unresolved issues. You know about them. This especially applies to investment cooperation. We have good cooperation in lending matters but the flow of direct investment from China is insignificant. We also need to work more actively towards the establishment of joint ventures,” said Vladimir Andreichenko.

Not long ago the Belarusian side extended an invitation to Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Zhang Dejiang to visit Belarus. "We hope that he will accept the invitation and will visit Belarus in the foreseeable future,” Vladimir Andreichenko said. The Speaker drew attention to the fact Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to visit Belarus in May.