Lukashenka left for a state visit to China

February 28, MINSK. President of Belarus ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO left for a state visit to CHINA , BelTA has learned.

This visit will be a continuation of the long-term course of building friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation with the People's Republic of China. In September 2022, at a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, the leaders of Belarus and China agreed to take relations to a new level - an all-weather and comprehensive strategic partnership.

The analysis of what has been achieved and the maximum implementation in practice of the potential of a new level in relations will be the subject of consideration by the heads of state. President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko and President of China Xi Jinping will hold talks in narrow and expanded formats. The focus will be on the development of trade, economic, investment and humanitarian cooperation, the implementation of joint large-scale projects, interaction in the political sphere, and response to the most acute in the current international situation.

it is expected that following the talks, a large package of documents on the development of relations in key areas will be signed.

The state visit of Alexander Lukashenko to China will end on March 2. It is planned that in Beijing the President will also hold a number of meetings with top officials of the PRC, the leadership of leading Chinese corporations.

INTERVIEW: How Belarus and China became all-weather partners and what to expect from Lukashenka's visit to Beijing

INTUITION DOES NOT FAIL. How Lukashenka was one of the first to see the promise of the Chinese vector

As President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko has already visited China 12 times. However, even before working as HEAD of state, he paid attention to the development of cooperation with this country, which, among other things, he spoke about in an interview with Chinese media on the eve of his current visit.

"As a member of parliament, I visited China. I was interested in free economic zones - their legal regime, what they generally give the state," he said. especially. Then, rather intuitively, I felt that in just a couple of decades - and China will become one of the leading powers in the world. And we need to learn from China how to live."

The visit took place just after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and Belarus was looking for different ways out of the difficult situation in which the country found itself. “I suggested turning to the experience of China. Not really, especially the nationalist wing of the Belarusian parliament, they listened to this, and I was strongly criticized. But our government (Vyacheslav Frantsevich Kebich) already had some relation and interests to your country,” said Alexander Lukashenko. Then, according to him, confidence came that it was necessary to use the experience of China, especially since Belarus, already sovereign and independent, had something to offer to this country.

Beijing

"In the Soviet Union, the technological level, the level of innovation, new ideas was colossal. Belarus was the center where new technologies were concentrated. And then all our negotiations began and ended not only with trade, but above all with investments and new technologies. China was interested in any new technologies.We shared with the Chinese people and the state the technologies that they were interested in. Looking ahead, I will say that today we are already learning from the Chinese new technologies that we are interested in. In all sectors - from biotechnology to defense. You have made significant progress. During this time, you have become a world power. Not a single issue can be resolved without you," the Belarusian leader said.

“We spared nothing for China at that time. China should also help us. First of all, I am referring to our new areas of cooperation - the Great Stone. We are waiting here for more residents from China, high-tech residents, and enterprises,” Alexander Lukashenko said.

Of great interest to Belarus is the further development of the BNBK. "This is a joint venture. We have gone through two stages, we need a third one - the creation of vitamin production on this basis. I think that Xi Jinping will help us in this regard. Why I say that Xi Jinping, because only thanks to his decision, the implementation of of this program. Four or five countries in the world have such production facilities. And China helped us create such a biotech corporation. These are the highest technologies," the President noted.

Over the years of fruitful joint work, cooperation between Belarus and China has risen to the level of an all-weather and comprehensive strategic partnership. “It is rare that China has such a level of cooperation with any state. We really appreciate it, understanding what giant China and our Belarus are,” Alexander Lukashenko stressed. “In recent decades, we have been a reliable friend of the Chinese people. that I am the President in Belarus. And other presidents will adhere to this line, because it is already within our people. Our people, especially during the period of sanctions pressure from the West, saw who is who, and was able to appreciate the friendship between the Belarusian and Chinese peoples."

CHINA BECAME GREAT. What Lukashenka sees as the main merit of his friend Xi Jinping

Interestingly, just as Alexander Lukashenko visited China 12 times as head of state, so far he has met Xi Jinping 12 times during his visits to China, Belarus and international venues. The leaders of the two countries have friendly relations.

"I have been to China many times. I will be glad to visit China again in the coming days and meet with the leadership of China, primarily with my old friend Xi Jinping," the Belarusian leader said in an interview with reporters.

President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping and President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko during the SCO summit in Samarkand. Photo from the archive

He stressed that Xi Jinping is a very smart, wise, creative, modern person, and the Chinese people made the right decision by electing him for another term as the leader of the PRC. The development of China in the way it is under the leadership of Xi Jinping (and in particular his ideas about the need for global peace) will ensure the further normal development of the entire planet, the head of state is convinced.

on which you actually built a new China. This is the greatest merit of Xi Jinping, and the Chinese people will appreciate it later."

Moreover, Xi Jinping managed to change the nature of the Chinese people, who are characterized by calmness, unhurriedness, slowness. "He gave acceleration. He subtly noticed that life has changed, the speeds are colossal. And if you do not accelerate, but sit quietly, waiting for something, you can be late. This intuition of Xi Jinping played on the fact that he starts this slow measured character of Chinese change of people. It costs a lot. We need to accelerate. He felt it. And the Chinese people are leading along this road very quickly. We are ready to go side by side and help this. I think that in the next five years, China will become the world's leading power."

Alexander Lukashenko said that the future of China's "One Belt, One Road" initiative and the new policy of the Eurasian Economic Union. Both the heads of the EAEU states and Chinese President Xi Jinping agree with this. “Please, let great China take advantage of our opportunities. The market is huge. Of course, not Chinese in terms of population. But very promising,” Alexander Lukashenko is convinced. “China is developing very strongly in our direction. Naturally, the EAEU is an organization that has its own interests ", including advantages. China must take into account these interests. It is doing this."

VISIT VIEWS. What agreements Belarus and China intend to conclude

Ambassador of Belarus to China Yury Senko noted in an interview with journalists that cooperation with China has been developing for decades. Moreover, the last 10 years have been associated with the fact that Belarus, together with China, has many large serious projects that are the locomotives of the economy. For example, the number of residents of the industrial park "Great Stone", who produce high-tech products, is constantly growing. “The demand for exploring the possibilities of working in the Belarusian industrial park is constantly growing. And during the visit of the head of state, meetings are also planned with large Chinese businesses, which are interested in considering the issue of entering the industrial park with their own separate types of production,” the diplomat said.

As of February 1, 104 residents from 15 countries are registered in the industrial park with a total volume of declared investments of $1.32 billion.

Industrial Park "Great Stone"

Despite the fact that the past year 2022 was quite difficult in terms of the pandemic, and China was relatively closed, the parties managed to achieve an increase in trade and exports of Belarusian products. In terms of growth in exports to China, Belarus has moved from 136th to 38th position, which is a very good indicator. “This indicates that today China is interested in buying our products, and Belarus has worked out the appropriate mechanisms, accreditation of our products for sale on the Chinese market. The Chinese consumer is well aware of Belarusian products and buys them with pleasure. Chinese buyers associate Belarus with quality and environmentally friendly goods," Yuriy Senko said.

According to him, more than two dozen documents are planned to be signed during the visit. Some of them will have an immediate effect, while others will have a delayed effect - they will require the development of various programs and roadmaps for their implementation. But in the end, the ambassador is sure, filling each agreement with content will give a powerful impetus to bilateral cooperation in all areas - from trade and investment to culture and sports.

Many enterprises have already switched to working with Chinese partners for settlements in yuan, and there are practically no problems, including against the backdrop of Western sanctions pressure. “Whoever is comfortable in whatever currency is used to pay. There are practically no difficulties. The situation is absolutely normal, it has stabilized. In the short term, we will only improve this work,” Yuriy Senko assured.

In addition to the state visit of Alexander Lukashenko, visits of delegations from Belarus to China at the level of the government, ministries and departments are planned in the near future, which will be aimed at improving and developing the agreements reached.

Beijing

China is traditionally one of the three trade partners of Belarus. In 2022, the trade turnover between Belarus and China amounted to $5.79 billion (more than 113% compared to 2021). EXPORT of goods amounted to $1.61 billion, import - $4.18 billion. Main export items: potash fertilizers, beef, MEAT and edible offal of poultry, timber, MILK and condensed and dry cream. Active work is underway to eliminate technical barriers to trade. As of February 14, 2023, 172 export registration numbers for 149 Belarusian food producers were registered in the system of the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China.

Investment cooperation with China is also actively developing. These are several dozen projects with investments worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Through Chinese government loans under existing loan agreements, 25 projects have been implemented for a total of about $4.73 billion, 4 projects worth $2.26 billion are under implementation. A number of loan applications are under consideration by the Chinese side.

More than 1.5 billion yuan (about $243 million) of technical and economic assistance has been disbursed for 14 projects.

More than 500 direct cooperation agreements have been signed between higher educational institutions of Belarus and China. Currently, 477 Belarusian citizens are studying in China, and about 6,000 Chinese citizens are getting education in Belarus. Over 15 joint educational programs have been developed in 2021-2022. In September 2022, the first enrollment of students was carried out for training in the specialty "biotechnology", developed by the Belarusian State University and Peking University.

In the healthcare sector, in 2021-2022, China provided Belarus with a total of 4.9 million doses of the covid-19 vaccine produced by the Sinopharm Corporation free of charge. The Belarusian side independently purchased 4.6 million doses of the vaccine. Particular attention is paid to the development of traditional Chinese medicine in Belarus. Work is underway with the Chinese side to improve the regulatory framework for the use of traditional Chinese medicine in the national HEALTH care system of Belarus.

As for the sphere of medicine, Minister of Health of Belarus Dmitry Pinevich, who is already in Beijing, shared some details in this regard with journalists. "We have already held a fairly large number of meetings on the eve of the visit. Not only and not so much in Beijing. We were in two provinces and signed a number of agreements. In particular, on the supply of medical equipment and medical products. On the work on the supply of substances and the whole a number of medicines produced in China, with the aim of further localization in our country. There was a meeting with the association of manufacturers based on the Sinopharm company, which is familiar to all of us, including in connection with the supply of vaccines," the head of the department said.

Health Minister Dmitry Pinevich during a visit to China. Photo of the Ministry of Health

According to him, on the eve of the start of the visit of the head of state, meetings were held at the relevant Ministry of Health of China, where issues of strategic cooperation were considered. “Most of all, they talked about how to develop relations in the future. Both in the healthcare system as a whole, and paid special attention to the development of the Great Stone industrial park, where it is planned to localize the production of medical equipment, medical products, traditional Chinese medicine. We are planning construction medical centers, including those that will deal with traditional Chinese medicine and that medicine, European in our understanding, which is also well developed in China," the minister said.

In general, Dmitry Pinevich added, China is showing great interest in those positions where Belarus has accumulated high-tech advanced experience. For example, in transplantology, traumatology, cardiac surgery.