By H.E. Yury Senko， the Ambassador of the Republic of Belarus to China
文｜尤里·先科（Yury Senko） 白俄罗斯共和国驻华大使 翻译｜王晓波 图片提供｜白俄罗斯共和国驻华大使馆
导读
February 28 to March 2, 2023 President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko paid a state visit to the People’s Republic of China. It became a second face-to-face meeting with the Secretary of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping within a year – after their fruitful negotiations while 22nd SCO Heads of State Council meeting in Uzbekistan (15-16th September, 2022, Samarkand). These two significant events raised the Belarus-China trade and cooperation to a new quality level.
⬆ The train moves via Belarus-China railway route, Brest region, Belarus
Core basis of a new era is dedicated to an adoption of Joint Declaration on the Establishment of Relations of All-Weather and Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Raising the status of bilateral relations to the level of all-weather and comprehensive strategic partnership was a truly significant event, and the visit allowed filling this status with concrete content, outlining areas of mutual interest and prospects for cooperation.
Belarus and China signed about 40 agreements and contracts during the visit, the total economic effect of their implementation is estimated at about 3.5 billion US dollars. The documents mainly relate to the development of cooperation in such fields as investment, agriculture, food supplies, healthcare, construction, industry, scientific and technical cooperation, sports, tourism and media.
The results of the past year were also summed up during the visit. Despite the impact of the pandemic and quarantine measures, the development of Belarus-China relations continued as comprehensive and multifaceted, the interaction was aimed at maximizing the potential of strategic cooperation.
The year of 2022 has become a record in terms of bilateral trade, a historical maximum of 5.8 billion US dollars has been reached, the growth rate is 113.6% by 2021. The export of Belarusian goods amounted to 1.6 billion US dollars, showing an increase of 76.5%. Potash fertilizers, food products and timber became the drivers. 44 new commodity items worth $13.3 million were delivered, including chipboard, tanned leather, peat.
Efforts on the trade and economic track were focused on further increasing and diversifying Belarusian exports to China, increasing the share of food and agricultural products, expanding transport and logistics cooperation.
Due to direct support of Belarus Embassy in China have been organized more than 70 presentations of the export and investment potential of Belarus, 30 B2B business forums, seminars, cooperation exchanges, conferences, 9 international exhibition events in China involving more than 2000 Belarus and China enterprises.
In order to promote Belarusian high-quality products to the Chinese market, the list of accredited enterprises has been expanded more than 50 registration numbers in 2022, 11 video inspections of Chinese regulatory experts took place. Belarusian enterprises submitted applications for registration of baby food, cereal flakes, rapeseed oil. The 2 quarantine protocols on admission wheat flour and vegetable meal were successfully signed.
2 National Belarusian E-Pavilions have been boomingly launched on the popular Chinese e-commerce platforms Jing Dong and DouYin. In the nearest future it is planned to open Electronic National Pavilions at 7 new major Chinese platforms.
Recently logistics turned into crucial factor for international trade and safety of supply chains. Grateful to underline that B&R initiative in most positive way influenced on Belarus-China cooperation. In 2022, the volume of transportation in the bilateral China-Belarus connection amounted to 207 thousand TEU, or +83.7% by 2021. 122 thousand TEU with Belarus export products reached Chinas which is 5 times more than last year. In order to support export deliveries, the number of railway container trains to China has been increased 6.5 times.
The main priorities and directions of joint technological development of Belarus and China have been identified, issues of industrial cooperation and organization of licensed productions have been worked out.
An important event was the signing of a comprehensive strategy for joint industrial development of Belarus and China during the visit. It involves the creation of joint high-tech innovative industries and the development of industrial cooperation. It is interested in deepening cooperation with China to increase capacity and create new joint ventures in the fields of mechanical engineering, assembly of automotive electric vehicles, agricultural production, energy, biotechnology on the territory of the two countries. Our manufacturers are ready to study the competencies and technologies of Chinese companies in the formation of the component base, the production of engines, transmissions, axles and other units.
Chinese investments increased by about 80 percent. In 2022 China ranks 7th in the total volume of net FDI. The Embassy is working on a list of 140 investment projects, incl. 28 top selected ones in different economic spheres.
The signing of an agreement on trade in services and investment, which has been worked on for three years, will contribute to the development of investment cooperation between the two countries. According to experts, the signing of this document will allow for an increase of 12.5% in bilateral trade in services and 30% in investments.
“The pearl” of Belarus-China cooperation – the Great Stone Industrial Park has been continuously growing. Currently, out of 104 residents registered in the industrial park, 49 are companies with capital from the People’s Republic of China. The announced volume of investments is about 770 million US dollars, the number of planned jobs is more than 3.8 thousand people.
The industrial park is home to large manufacturing enterprises created in cooperation with the largest Chinese corporations. Also there is a one of major project in logistics, which has built transportation a hub with modern warehouse and customs infrastructure.
In 2022, 19 companies became new residents of the park, 10 of them with foreign capital. The new residents plan to implement investment projects in the fields of e-commerce, integrated logistics, mechanical engineering, biotechnology, fine chemistry, data storage and processing, research and development. Both sides continue to work on the transformation of the Chinese-Belarusian Industrial Park “Great Stone” into an international cooperation project and a satellite city of Minsk. Attracting investments, developing heritage and innovations, promoting traditional Chinese medicine will contribute to its growth. The agenda also includes cooperation in the field of the digital Silk Road based on pilot zones, industrial clusters and industrial parks associated with China, covering such areas as high technology, digital economy, digital trade, artificial intelligence, big data, e-government, blockchain technologies.
The regional cooperation is on constant focus on the Belarus and China bilateral agenda. The year of 2023 has been continuously announced as a Year of Regional Links between Belarus and China, relevant comprehensive Roadmap has been signed. Do assure that such sister relations bring robust effect on mutual trade, intercultural exchanges and humanitarian development for both countries and their citizens. Looking forward to stating all these progressive changes in the nearest bright future of common destiny.
2023年2月28日至3月2日，白俄罗斯共和国总统亚历山大·卢卡申科对中华人民共和国进行了国事访问。这是一年内卢卡申科总统与中华人民共和国主席习近平的第二次面对面会晤，此前他们在乌兹别克斯坦举行的上海合作组织第二十二次国家元首理事会会议（2022年9月15日至16日，撒马尔罕）上已经进行了富有成效的会谈。这两件大事将白俄罗斯与中国的贸易合作提升到了一个新的质的水平。
⬆ 位于白俄罗斯维捷布斯克地区帕斯塔维的圣安东尼教堂
新时代的核心基础是两国通过了关于建立全天候和全面战略伙伴关系的联合宣言。将双边关系的地位提升到全天候和全面战略伙伴关系的水平的确是一件意义重大的事情，卢卡申科总统的此次访问夯实了这一地位的具体内容，并且勾画出了双方感兴趣的领域和合作前景。
访问期间白俄罗斯和中国签署了约40项协议和合同，它们的总经济效益估计约35亿美元。这些文件主要涉及投资、农业、食品供应、医疗保健、建筑、工业、科技合作、体育、旅游和媒体等领域的合作发展。
总统访问期间还总结了过去一年取得的成果。去年虽然受到疫情和隔离措施的影响，但白俄罗斯和中国关系的发展仍是全方位和多方面的，两国间的互动都以最大限度地发挥战略合作的潜力作为目标。
2022年双边贸易创下历史新高，达到58亿美元的历史最高水平，比2021年增长了113.6%。白俄罗斯的商品出口总额是16亿美元，增幅为76.5%。钾肥、食品和木材是出口的主要驱动力。此外还出口了44种价值1330万美元的新商品，包括刨花板、鞣革和泥炭。
贸易和经济领域努力的重点是进一步增加白俄罗斯对中国的出口并实现品种的多样化，加大食品和农产品的份额，扩大运输和物流合作。
在白俄罗斯驻华大使馆的直接支持下，白俄罗斯在中国组织了70多场关于出口和投资潜力的发布会，30场企业间的论坛、研讨会、合作交流和会议，以及9场国际展览活动，参与的白俄罗斯和中国企业超过了2000家。
为了将白俄罗斯的优质产品推向中国市场，2022年经认可的出口企业已经增加到50多个，中国方面的监管专家进行了11次视频检查。白俄罗斯的企业提交了婴儿食品、谷物片和菜籽油的注册申请。关于小麦粉和蔬菜粉入境的两项检疫协议已经成功签署。
白俄罗斯国家电子商务已经在中国2个热门电子商务平台京东和抖音上推出，并且大受欢迎。在不久的将来，按计划还会在中国其他7个主要平台开设白俄罗斯电子国家馆。
现在，物流已成为国际贸易和供应链安全的关键因素。值得庆幸的是，“一带一路”倡议在这方面用最积极的方式影响了白俄罗斯与中国的合作。2022年，白俄罗斯与中国的双边运输量达到20.7万个标准箱，比2021年增长了83.7%。其中白俄罗斯出口到中国的产品用了12.2万个标准箱，是上一年的5倍。为了支持出口，白俄罗斯开往中国的铁路集装箱列车数量增加了6.5倍。
白俄罗斯和中国还确定了进行联合技术开发的重要优先事项和方向，并且解决了有关产业合作和特许生产机构的问题。
在卢卡申科总统访华期间，白俄罗斯和中国签署了共同实现产业发展的综合战略，这是一个非常重要的举措。它涉及创建联合高科技创新产业和发展产业合作。这个综合战略意在深化与中国的合作，在两国领土上提升机械工程、电动汽车装配、农业生产、能源和生物技术领域的产能并创建新的合资企业。白俄罗斯的制造商将致力于研究中国公司在零部件基础的组成以及在发动机、变速器、车轴和其他部件的生产方面的能力和技术。
中国对白俄罗斯的投资增长了近80%。2022年，中国在白俄罗斯的外国直接投资总量方面位居第七。白俄罗斯驻华大使馆正在制定一份包含140个投资项目的清单，其中28个属于不同经济领域的最佳投资项目。
经过三年的努力，服务贸易和投资协议的签署将有助于两国投资合作的发展。根据专家的预测，该文件的签署能够使双边服务贸易增长12.5%，投资增长30%。
白俄罗斯与中国合作的“明珠”——巨石工业园正在不断发展壮大。目前，在工业园区注册的104家公司中，有49家是投资来自中国的公司。它们宣布的投资额约为7.7亿美元，计划将为3800多人创造就业机会。
这个工业园是白俄罗斯与中国一些最大的公司合作创建的大型制造企业的所在地。除此之外，物流方面也有一个大型项目，它能够把白俄罗斯的物流打造成为一个拥有现代化仓库和海关基础设施的枢纽。
2022年，又有19家公司落户工业园，其中10家是外资公司。这些新公司计划在电子商务、综合物流、机械工程、生物技术、精细化工、数据存储和处理以及研发等领域进行项目投资。白中双方将继续致力于把中国-白俄罗斯“巨石”工业园区改造成为一个国际合作项目和明斯克的卫星城。吸引投资、推陈出新和推广中医药都将有助于它的发展。该改造议程还包括在数字丝绸之路领域的合作，它将以中国相关的试验区、产业集群和产业园区为基础，涵盖高科技、数字经济、数字贸易、人工智能、大数据、电子政务、区块链技术等领域。
区域合作始终是白俄罗斯和中国双边议程的重点。2023年一直被看作是白俄罗斯和中国的区域连接年，双方还签署了相关的全面路线图。我们确信这种姐妹关系一定会对两国及其人民间的相互贸易、文化交流和人道主义发展产生强有力的影响。我们也期待很快在人类命运共同体的美好未来中看到所有这些积极的变化。