MINSK, 6 September (BelTA) – Belarus and China's Guangdong Province have agreed to enhance economic cooperation, BelTA learned from the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Belarus' Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrei Dapkiunas and Vice Governor of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of China's People's Political Consultative Conference Deng Haiguang discussed a wide range of issues related to trade and economic cooperation between Belarus and Guangdong Province, the prospects for implementing new joint investment projects, including as part of the China-Belarus industrial park Great Stone. The parties discussed opportunities to intensify partnership between the cities of Belarus and Guangdong Province in connection with the plans to declare 2020 the Year of the Regions of Belarus and China.
The deputy minister reaffirmed the commitment of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to provide necessary assistance to state institutions and business entities of Guangdong Province to ensure their most effective interaction with Belarusian partners.
The parties emphasized the need for mutual measures to launch a direct air service between Belarus and Guangdong Province. The move would simplify considerably the contacts between businessmen of both countries and could become an important factor for boosting mutual tourism.
Deng Haiguang assured that once he is back to China he will give relevant instructions to the local authorities of Guangdong Province to step up cooperation with Belarus in specific areas.
Guangdong Province is China's most populated and most economically and technologically developed region. It foreign trade accounts for nearly 25% of China's total foreign trade. Most of the Chinese resident companies of the Great Stone Industrial Park are companies from Guangdong Province. In 2017, President Xi Jinping defined Guangdong Province as a region that can become a driving force behind Belarus-China trade and investment cooperation. In 2018, the Consulate General of Belarus opened in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong.
