Business news

MINSK, 13 October (BelTA) – Eight companies have become residents of the Belarus-China industrial park Great Stone. More than 30 agreements of intent to participate in the project have been signed, Andrei Grinkevich, Head of the Asia, Australia and Oceania Department of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at the trade, economy and tourism conference of Guangdong Province and Minsk Oblast on 13 October, BelTA has learned.

“The park, which is often called ‘the pearl of the Silk Road’, is the driving force of the economic cooperation between our countries. The infrastructure of the first phase of the Great Stone project is currently under construction. This year, we will finish the work on the starting area of the park,” Andrei Grinkevich said. He invited Chinese companies to invest more in Belarus.

China Merchants Group is one of the key residents of the industrial park. The company is busy building a warehouse and a business center at the park. Hu Zheng, a member of the Board of Directors at China Merchants Group, noted that the site of the park has undergone major changes over the past year. The infrastructure facilities at the starting area of 3.5km2 have almost been finished. Conditions for attracting investment have been created.

“China Merchants Group has already invested $120 million in the project. The company has built a logistics park with a total area of 100,000m2. We show an example of accelerated development,” Hu Zheng stressed.

The China-Belarus industrial park Great Stone is a territorial unit with a special legal regime meant to enable comfortable conditions for doing business. The park is 91.5km2 large and is located 25km away from Minsk in the immediate proximity to an international airport, the railway network, and the transnational motorway Berlin-Moscow. There are plans to set up manufacturing and residential zones in the park, office premises, trade and entertainment zones, a financial center and R&D centers. The project is being developed within the framework of the intergovernmental Belarusian-Chinese cooperation and intergovernmental documents.

The delegation of Guangdong Province is visiting Minsk Oblast on 12-15 October. Presentations of the export, investment and tourism potential of Minsk Oblast and Guangdong Province were held on 13 October. The Chinese delegation is set to visit the construction site of the Chinese-Belarusian industrial park on 14 October.