MINSK, 18 February (BelTA) – Thirteen new resident companies were established in the China-Belarus industrial park Great Stone in 2020, the press service of the Belarusian Economy Ministry told BelTA.
According to the source, the 13 new residents declared investments to the tune of over $80 million. As of early 2021 the total number of residents amounted to 68 companies, which intend to invest $1.2 billion in their projects. Over 1,000 jobs have been created, with the average salary the resident companies pay twice as high as the country's average.
Despite the pandemic, universal slowdown of economic growth, and shrinking investment flows in 2020 the China-Belarus industrial park Great Stone welcomed a number of large companies. Among those are the Eurasian Railway Gateway (the founders include the internationally recognized logistics company China Merchants CHN-BLR Commerce and Logistics and the operator of Europe's largest river port AO Duisburger Hafen) and SinomachBel (a daughter enterprise of China's largest mechanical engineering company Sinomach is the founder).
In 2020 the industrial output of the park's resident companies increased by 4.4 times to Br138.8 million. Their proceeds from sales rose by 3.2 times to Br188.9 million, with merchandise export up by 2.3 times to $75.8 million and fixed-capital investments up by 15% to Br104.1 million.
A number of manufacturing enterprises the country has not seen up till now are being established in the China-Belarus industrial park Great Stone as part of four basic clusters: automobile components, electric transport and electric equipment, medical goods and equipment (pharmaceutics), and integrated logistics. Companies from 14 countries are helping establish the enterprises, thus advancing the industrial park to a new level of international cooperation and making it a transnational platform for developing high-tech manufacturing. According to Financial Times, the China-Belarus industrial park Great Stone is the best special economic zone of the year 2020 within the framework of the Belt and Road initiative.
