Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 4 May (BelTA) – Belarus hopes for Chinese foreign direct investment in joint projects, Speaker of the Council of the Republic Mikhail Myasnikovich noted as he met with representatives of China’s leading media outlets on 4 May, BelTA has learned.

“We would like to draw attention to the need for Chinese FDI in joint projects,” Mikhail Myasnikovich remarked. In his words, this is a more advanced form of cooperation than loans, which the business community should be aimed at.

It is important to shift towards large-scale investment cooperation from regular trade, the speaker underlined. This may become a turning point for Belarus-China relations and bring them to a new level. “We see it as the top priority. The main task is to do business together, set up joint ventures both in Belarus and China, and even with residents of third countries,” Mikhail Myasnikovich said.

He cited some good examples of cooperation: BelGee, Midea-Gorizont, MAZ-Zoomlion, and Volat-Sanjiang. “Let us face it, there are a few such projects. We know that our task is to increase their number. In order to do that, relevant conditions must be enables,” the speaker added. Such an environment has already been created in the Belarus-China industrial park Great Stone. However, in general the country should redouble the effort in this regard, Mikhail Myasnikovich believes.

“In my opinion, the Chinese companies have no reasons to be afraid of branching out into Belarus with large-scale projects. In the first place, Belarus tries to do everything to fully meet its obligations,” he emphasized.