Opinions & Interviews
Benefits of Great Stone industrial park for Belarus, China explained
An archive photo
MINSK, 21 January (BelTA) – Head of the Administration of the China-Belarus Industrial Park Great Stone Aleksandr Yaroshenko explained how Belarus and China benefit from the Great Stone park as he took part in the V teme [On point] online project on BelTA’s YouTube channel, BelTA has learned.
“Stability is of paramount importance for economic processes. Great Stone is positioned as an international investment platform due to its scale. The park hosts 85 resident companies from 15 countries, which is quite impressive. This is not only China and Belarus, but also Russia, Ukraine, the countries of the European Union, Switzerland, Israel, Singapore, the United States of America. They are all here, and their operation here is another proof of stability the country has had and will have,” Aleksandr Yaroshenko said.
In his opinion, stability primarily relies on the economic growth of the region and the country. “Stability depends on economic performance. In this sense, the Great Stone park is a mutually beneficial project and it is advantageous to the Republic of Belarus, because it helps generate economic growth. The park offers highly-paid jobs, and this is an important contributor to the stability in the country,” he said.
He lauded the success of the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative which Belarus was among the first to support. "The initiative involves not only Eurasian countries but also African states. The European Union is beginning to accept it and to actively participate in it, in one way or another," Aleksandr Yaroshenko went on saying. “Addressing its own geopolitical, transport, logistics and economic issues China brings these projects to host countries and acts as their guarantor. In other words, all this helps build a social and economic foundation for sustainable development. Being one of the world’s biggest economies and one of the most technologically advanced nations, China invests to facilitate the development of not only the transport corridor but also logistics and supplies.”
"I believe that the Great Stone park is a very illustrative project showing that this is probably the best option for the development of not only the transport and logistics corridor. These hubs should also act as manufacturing points. Manufacturing is the backbone of the economy, and the mixed economy is the basis of stability," he stressed.
China brings stability to the regions. It brings money and also best practices. "In the Great Stone park, we drew on the positive experience of the Suzhou Industrial Park, namely its interstate project China-Singapore Industrial Park. It is based on the principle of avoidance of conflicts of interest in management. This enables business and investors to receive all services quickly, efficiently, transparently, without any delays. Commercial issues are addressed by the park administration company whose main mission is to create the enabling environment for investors and their projects," added Aleksandr Yaroshenko.
"The Great Stone industrial park is China's largest project abroad. Our project occupies 11,761 hectares. It is really large, even by Chinese standards. Therefore, without borrowing positive experience, without using the help of the Chinese partners, we would have hardly handled such a project. But the most important thing is mutually beneficial relations between the countries. We are proud of our project that keeps growing," he concluded.
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