OREANDA-NEWS. June 30, 2010. Belarus invites China to step up work on joint projects, Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky said as he met with Deputy Commerce Minister of China Gao Hucheng.

Sergei Sidorsky reminded that in the recent years China had channeled considerable investments into Belarus. “Thanks to the active support of the Commerce Ministry, the Export-Import Bank of China, and the China Development Bank, the two countries launched some major joint projects to help Belarusian products penetrate foreign markets, the European markets, first and foremost,” he said.

It pertains first of all to the project delivered jointly with the CITIC company to upgrade Belarusian cement plants. Apart from that, Belarus and China are actively cooperating in power engineering. According to him, a number of joint projects in power engineering are in progress (modernization of Minsk CHP plants 2 and 5). A range of energy projects to be implemented outside Minsk are in the pipeline.

Belarus is also interested in large-scale cooperation under other projects including infrastructure projects. “Last week I met with the Mayor of Beijing. We agreed that the Chinese side will build a residential district in Minsk. We have also reached an agreement on the projects to reconstruct junctions in Minsk which need to be commissioned ahead of 2014. This big project in Minsk with the investment exceeding USD500 million will be shortly presented to the Chinese side,” Sergei Sidorsky said.

Another important project which will be implemented jointly with Chinese partners is the reconstruction of the Minsk international airport. “Talks are in progress. The work is underway on the documents on the reconstruction of the airport and construction of the new international terminal and the second landing strip. This is a large infrastructure project for us, and we ask for the assistance of our Chinese colleagues,” the Belarusian head of government said.

Sergei Sidorsky drew special attention to the projects which envisage the deployment of Chinese high-technology companies in Belarus. “Within the next three months Belarus will submit a list of projects in line with which we would like the Chinese side to move its industrial companies to Belarus in order to create large industrial zones here. The Belarusian side has prepared all the proposals that need scrupulous attention. They cover 12 or 13 economic sectors of Belarus where Chinese investments can help set up new companies,” he noted.

Sergei Sidorsky assured Gao Hucheng that Belarus has always been a reliable ally of the People’s Republic of China and views China as its strategic partner. “Those political relations we have demonstrated our readiness to develop trade and economic relations and follow the path outlined by the Presidents of the two countries,” Sergei Sidorsky said.