Call to ramp up Belarus-China trade

MINSK, 29 September – China remains the second biggest trading partner for Belarus, Valery Mitskevich, Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus, head of the Belarus-China interparliamentary working group at the National Assembly, said at the online session to mark the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, has learned.

“This year, Belarus and China mark the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations. In a fairly short period of time, Belarus-China cooperation has made substantial progress. As a result of the meeting of Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko and President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping in Samarkand two weeks ago, a joint declaration was passed to announce all-weather and comprehensive strategic partnership. There is serious potential to intensify our inter-parliamentary ties. It is necessary to follow the policy outlined by the heads of state and upgrade the status of the working group to the level of an inter-parliamentary commission. This will give a boost to the parliamentary dialogue, including in matters of economy, trade, investment. I am sure that we will continue to jointly build up Belarus-China cooperation in various areas in every possible way. This fully meets the interests of our peoples, chimes in with our efforts to strengthen security and stability at the global level,” the deputy speaker noted.

The priority avenues of cooperation for the near future include trade, finances, interbank cooperation, technology and investment.

“Today China is Belarus' second biggest trading partner. In 2021 the trade between Belarus and China hit a record $5.9 billion. The agreements reached are being successfully implemented, the comprehensive partnership is strong and stable. I am convinced that our trade in goods and services will remain on the growth track. After all, we are doing our best to keep the trade growing. This includes the recent memorandum of understanding on cooperation in electronic commerce,” Valery Mitskevich said.

According to him, Belarus is able to increase the supply of meat and dairy products and other foodstuffs to the Chinese market as these products turned out to be quite popular in China. “Building our presence on the Chinese market, including the food market, is part of our efforts to diversify foreign economic activity in the current difficult conditions. Progress and achievements in recent years are obvious to all. Our countries are running many ambitious and even unique projects, including the Great Stone industrial park with 94 resident companies from 15 countries, the production of Geely cars and the creation of the Belarusian National Biotechnology Corporation. One thing is certain: we will continue building sustainable economic ties with China,” the vice speaker said.

Valery Mitskevich deems it necessary to ramp up investment. “I believe there is room for growth here, and Belarusian parliamentarians should also contribute to the effort as they are intimately familiar with their constituencies and know what investment projects might be attractive to China. We will be glad to have the largest possible number of Chinese investors in Belarus, including within the framework of the Silk Road Economic Belt initiative,” he added.