MINSK, 10 April (BelTA) –The China-Belarus industrial park Great Stone plans to increase the number of resident companies up to 20 by late 2017, BelTA learned from the press service of the Belarusian Economy Ministry.
“Belarus' Economy Minister Vladimir Zinovsky and Deputy Head of the Belarus President Administration Nikolai Snopkov met with representatives of the park's joint management company set up by the Chinese corporations China Merchants Group and CAMCE (the holding company Sinomach). The parties discussed the progress in the park's creation in 2016, matters of construction and attraction of new resident companies, and plans for 2017. Representatives of the Chinese corporations confirmed their readiness to co-develop the park and invest into it in future. The parties agreed to keep on attracting investors to the park and set the target of 20 residents by late 2017,” the press service noted.
Deputy Economy Minister of the Republic of Belarus Pavel Utyupin and representatives of the Investment Association of China also held a meeting on 9 April. The parties touched upon the prospects of joint projects of the association and Belarusian companies. “The association comprises sixty major state-owned corporations run by the State Committee for Assets Supervision and Administration of China. Twenty of them are included in the list of the world's largest companies Fortune Global 500,” the press service clarified.
The parties also agreed that a delegation of the association's top management and representatives of the affiliated companies will pay a visit to Belarus to explore the possibility of setting up China-Belarus joint-stock companies.
The press service remarked that on 10 April Beijing hosted the 9th meeting of the working group on the China-Belarus industrial park affairs led by Belarus' Economy Minister Vladimir Zinovsky and China Deputy Minister of Commerce Yu Guangzhou. The parties discussed key questions of the park's development in detail ranging from construction of infrastructure and resident companies' objects to financing and facilitation of legal regulations.
“In 2017 the project entered a new phase, a phase of operation and development. I would like to congratulate all the attendees on this and thank you for the contribution to our collective success,” Vladimir Zinovsky stressed in his opening speech. The minister pointed out that it is necessary to provide an attractive investment environment in the park and highlighted the park's strategic role in Belarus-China relations. According to him, the park serves as a hub for placing high-tech industries that form the economy of the future.
The working group considered and generally endorsed the plan of action on the project's implementation in 2017 and instructed to adopt it promptly. The plan includes measures meant to improve the park's management, design and build the park's infrastructure, attract resident companies and investors, promote the park's brand worldwide, provide financial and technical support to the Great Stone park, coordinate efforts and encourage R&D activities of the park's first resident companies.
The Belarusian party presented information on the drafting and terms of adoption of the draft decree “On measures to improve special legal regulation of the China-Belarus industrial park Great Stone”. The Chinese party gave careful consideration to the draft decree and estimated the document positively as an efficient instrument that would encourage investors. Several partner companies that plan to implement their projects in the industrial park presented their reports, the press service remarked.
