Business news

MINSK, 9 July (BelTA) – Since the project to set up the Chinese-Belarusian Industrial Park Great Stone was launched, it has accumulated $346.8 million in investments, head of the park’s administration Alexander Yaroshenko said at a seminar for heads of Belarusian diplomatic missions on 9 July, BelTA has learned.

“I am talking about all the investments. They include investments injected by our country, as Belarus allocated finances for the construction of infrastructure and provision of the necessary facilities on site. These are also investments of the management company that uses a great deal of equity of our Chinese partners; it is also technical and economic aid, and funds of our resident companies. The park will be up and running soon,” Alexander Yaroshenko said.

Investments in the park in 2018 are expected to exceed $180 million. At the same time, the amount of investments announced by the resident companies in early July 2018 makes up $998.7 million.

According to Alexander Yaroshenko, ten different projects, including manufacturing venues and projects in the services sector, will reach their design capacity this year.

The park has plans to increase the output up to $1 billion and the number of resident companies up to 100 by 2020. Some 6,480 jobs are to be created. The investments are expected to make up at least $2 billion by 2020.

“These are the figures that we see here and now. Every day, month and year these figures go upwards and I hope they will be much bigger in the end,” Alexander Yaroshenko said.

He also mentioned the advantages of the park. One of them is a possibility to lease a land plot for 99 years or to buy it. “The Great Stone park is the only place in Belarus where resident companies are allowed to buy land,” he said.

Other advantages include customs preferences, a one-stop-shop principle for providing services to companies, tax cuts and preferences, ready-to-use land plots and manufacturing premises, a favorable geographic location, and a simplified design and construction process. In other words, the park offers the best terms for doing business in the Eurasian space.