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Belarus-China cooperation hailed as constructive
MINSK, 8 June (BelTA) - Belarus-China cooperation has been developing in a constructive vein, Chairman of the House of Representatives Vladimir Andreichenko told the media after a video conference with Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Li Zhanshu, BelTA has learned.
“Our relations with China will continue developing in a constructive vein. The 2020 results also speak about it. Suffice it to say that our trade hit about $5 billion last year. China is our second largest trading partner after Russia, used to be third. This is why we discussed a number of steps to increase mutual trade today, especially in the face of the sanctions pressure from the West. We have very good proposals, both on our part and from China, to increase the export of our goods to China, to redirect the flow of our goods from the European Union to the Chinese market. I must say that today Belarus exports about $5.5 billion worth of goods to the European Union. The potential for exporting these goods to the People's Republic of China is estimated at about $5-5.5 billion," Vladimir Andreichenko said.
According to him, further development of the China-Belarus industrial park Great Stone was also discussed. "Very serious investors from China are working there. There are 69 resident companies. Almost 2,000 jobs have been created.
Wages are very good. This is why we have proposed that China send more investors to us. The appropriate conditions have been created for them. The president held a meeting on this issue yesterday. Additional preferences will be offered to those investors who will come with solid investments," the speaker said.
"We also agreed to raise the level of inter-parliamentary cooperation - to enhance the status of the parliamentary working group on cooperation with China to the level of the inter-parliamentary commission. We also discussed China's economic assistance, cooperation in healthcare, education and youth policy. As you can see, we discussed a wide range of issues," Vladimir Andreichenko said.
Many initiatives were voiced during today's meeting, Chairwoman of the Council of the Republic Natalya Kochanova emphasized. “These initiatives were supported. The economic issues related to the sanctions and our international relations were on the agenda of the meeting," she added. "We also discussed at length humanitarian cooperation: in education, healthcare. You know that we have been working closely with the People's Republic of China in healthcare. We were the first to send humanitarian supplies when the pandemic broke out. China extended us a helping hand when the pandemic reached Belarus. We are still cooperating actively."
The speaker noted that many initiatives have been put forward to promote the interaction of women's and youth organizations of the two countries. "Young people are our future. Good relations between our countries depend on how the young people of our countries interact. China suggests holding a Belarusian-Chinese women's forum and a youth forum. These are wonderful initiatives that we will undoubtedly work on and promote," Natalya Kochanova concluded.
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