Though Belarus and China are very distant from each other, the countries have a long history of relations. A wide range of common political and economic interests provided for strategic partnership. And now Belarus will have the opportunity to present its goods at the largest exhibition forum in China. This was proposed by the President of the Foreign Trade Center of China Wang Zhiping who came to Belarus to speak about the participation prospects in the Guangzhou fair for Belarusian companies.
Vadim Scheglov reports: Today the President of the Foreign Trade Center of China Wang Zhiping offered Belarusian companies to participate in the Guangzhou exhibition.
Wang Zhiping, President of the Foreign Trade Center of China: Our fair has been held for over 100 years and is the largest in Asia. It includes 60.000 stands, 200.000 businessmen from 210 countries. We want Belarusian companies to participate in the exhibition as well. This is a good site for the promotion of Belarusian goods.
The Guangzhou exhibition is held twice a year. The number of visitors exceeds 10 million people.
From the beginning of the year, several high-ranking Chinese officials, businessmen and military men have visited Belarus. The heads of Belarus and China met several times. Xi Jinping visited Belarus as the Deputy Chairman of the People's Republic of China. The countries plan to move forward in the military sphere, telecommunication and energy. And next week Minsk and Beijing will meet again.
Several years ago China opened a concessional credit line worth USD 15 billion for Belarus: reconstruction of energy facilities, cement plants, construction of roads, automobile manufacturing. China sees Belarus as a base for the promotion of Chinese goods and technologies to the markets of the European Union.
Another investment matter is hotel business. At the moment, Chinese companies are building the 5-star hotel Beijing in Minsk especially for the World Hockey Championship. The amount of the project is USD 100 million.
China enters one of the leading sectors of Belarusian economy. Thus, a car assembling plant with the capacity of up to 120.000 cars a year is being built near Borisov. Its main sale markets will be Russia and Kazakhstan. Moreover, China supplies new generation electric locomotives for the Belarusian railroad, builds cement plants, but the main project is the future Belarusian-Chinese industrial park.
