On the afternoon of July 28th, the China-Belarus Great Stone Industrial Park Promotion Webinar was held in Guangzhou. Representatives from the political and business circles gathered together on the internet to promote cooperation between Guangdong and Belarus.

During the Webinar. (Photo/Hannah Zhou)

The Webinar was organized by the Consulate General of the Republic of Belarus in Guangzhou and the China-Belarus Industrial Park Management Committee, and co-hosted by the Department of Commerce and Foreign Affairs Office of Guangdong Province.

Pearl on the Belt and Road

Aimed at the pearl project on the Belt and Road, the Great Stone Park is the largest cooperation result between the two countries. It is located in Minsk, Belarus--the important hub connecting Europe and Asia along the Silk Road Economic Belt, and covers a planning area of 112.5 square kilometers.

China-Belarus Great Stone Industrial Park.

Supported by the leaders of China and Belarus, the Great Stone Park is one of the economic and trade cooperation zones where Chinese enterprises have witnessed the largest overseas development area and the highest level of cooperation.

"China's investment and trade potential is growing year by year. For Belarus, the development of the industrial park needs to attract Chinese companies." Andrei Popov, Consul-General of the Republic of Belarus in Guangzhou said before adding "One third of Chinese companies in the park have roots in Guangdong."

Guangdong enterprises play an active role

Currently, there are 35 Chinese companies in the park, 12 of which comes from Guangdong, for example Huawei and Midea. Chen Yuehua, Deputy Head of the Department of Commerce of Guangdong Province, said that Guangdong and Belarus have close business exchanges. He himself has visited the Great Stone Park four times and witnessed changes at the industrial park.

China-Belarus Great Stone Industrial Park.

In recent years, Guangdong has enhanced cooperation with Belarus in economy and trade, science and technology, people-to-people exchange, education, and the Belt and Road Initiative. Accoding to Chen, the trade volume between Guangdong and Belarus in 2019 exceeded 360 million U.S. dollars, accounting for nearly 13.3% of the bilateral trade volume. In the first half of this year, even though the global economy was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, the import and export trade volume between Guangdong and Belarus amounted to 200 million U.S. dollars.

During the Webinar. (Photo/Hannah Zhou)

Guangdong's investment in Belarus has developed rapidly. In 2019, Guangdong enterprises' non-financial investment in Belarus reached 11.67 million U.S. dollars, an increase of 4.8 times, covering electrical appliances, machinery, home appliances, and electronic information, which has contributed to the sound development of economy and society of two countries.

Big incentives to attract investment

The China-Belarus Industrial Park provides the greatest tax incentives among industrial parks in CIS countries.

Representatives of the Management Committee of the industrial park introducing investment incentives. (Photo/Hannah Zhou)

To encourage enterprises to invest and start businesses in the park, the Belarusian government provides tax reduction, preferential policies and competitive production factors. The Great Stone Park Development Company also intends to provide loans and financing for the first batch of enterprises to start business in the park.

A presidential decree in 2017 further clarified the powers of the management committee of the China-Belarus Industrial Park, stipulating that Belarusian governmental departments must send staff to the industrial park according to the needs of the park management committee, and provide one-stop services for enterprises to join the park.

The leading industries in the park include electronics and communications, pharmaceuticals, fine chemical, biotechnology, machinery manufacturing, new materials, integrated logistics, e-commerce, as well as big data storage and processing.

“Up to now, our industrial park has attracted 62 enterprises with the total agreed investment exceeding 1.2 billion US dollars. Among them are 35 Chinese-funded projects, 10 projects owned by Belarus, and the remaining from the United States, Austria, Lithuania, Germany, Switzerland, and Russia,” according to Hou Changqing, Deputy General Manager of the Great Stone Park Development Company (China).

Author: Hannah Zhou

Editors: Steven Yuen, Jerry Grey