China and Belarus pledged on Wednesday to continue to build model bilateral ties in the new era after establishing an all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership in September of last year.
The two leaders came to an understanding in a joint statement that was signed in Beijing following discussions between Chinese President Xi Jinping and visiting Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
A number of bilateral cooperation agreements in the areas of business and trade, industry, agriculture, customs, science and technology, health, tourism, sports, and local affairs were signed in front of the two chiefs of state.
Underscoring the unbreakable nature of the connection between China and Belarus, Xi urged the two countries to increase political mutual trust and continue to be each other’s “genuine friends and excellent partners”.
According to him, China greatly appreciates Belarus’ unwavering support of China’s righteous stance on matters pertaining to Taiwan, Xinjiang, Hong Kong, and human rights.
The Chinese president emphasized the importance of making additional efforts to advance economic and trade cooperation, build the China-Belarus Industrial Park, co-build the Belt and Road, and advance connectivity projects like the China-Europe freight trains when discussing how to strengthen bilateral relations.Lukashenko said that Belarus is willing to strengthen cooperation with China in science and technology, industry, agriculture and tourism, push forward the construction of China-Europe freight trains and the industrial park, welcome Chinese enterprises to invest in Belarus and strengthen local and cultural exchanges.
The Great Stone China-Belarus Industrial Park is the largest project to attract investment in Belarus and a landmark cooperation project within the Belt and Road framework, which was promoted by the two heads of state personally and prized by the two governments.
Since the two countries’ leaders visited the industrial park in May 2015, development and construction of the project have forged ahead, and fruitful results have been achieved.
